Showing papers by "Anne M. Stiggelbout published in 1996"

Tradeoffs between Quality and Quantity of Life Development of the QQ Questionnaire for Cancer Patient Attitudes

Abstract: The patient's perspective is of prime concern in weighing the benefits and side effects of oncologic treatment. Little is known about patients' preference and attitudes. The authors developed a short questionnaire to assess patient attitudes concerning trade-offs between quality of life and length, or quantity, of life (the QQ Questionnaire). The questionnaire turned out to be feasible for use in various groups of cancer patients. In a factor analysis, the questionnaire was shown to consist of two factors, a Q(uality) and a L(ength) factor. Values of Cronbach's alpha for the Q and L scales (consisting of four items each) were 0.68 and 0.79, respectively. Younger patients and patients who have children assigned relatively more importance to striving for prolonged survival. Contrary to our expectation, no association was found between scores on the two scales and time tradeoff utility scores. The QQ Questionnaire can be used in research settings to study patient attitudes and the stability and determinants of patients' preferences.

The 'utility' of the visual analog scale in medical decision making and technology assessment. Is it an alternative to the time trade-off?

Abstract: Methods often used for the valuation of health states are the time trade-off (TTO) and the visual analog scale (VAS). The VAS is easier than the TTO and can be self-administered; however it usually leads to lower scores. In the literature a power transformation of group mean VAS scores to TTO scores has been proposed. We were able to replicate this finding of a power function. We found coefficients that were very similar to those from the literature, for 183 cancer patients. The relationship existed independently of disease state and health status.