Measuring quality of life of Chinese cancer patients - A validation of theChinese version of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) scale

BACKGROUND. Few cancer specific quality-of-life (QoL) measures from the Wes t have been translated for use with Chinese-speaking patients, and no subst antial validation of these translations with adequately large cohorts has b een published previously, to the authors' knowledge.The Functional Assessme nt of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) is a well-validated QoL instrument th at is specific to cancer patients. The scale was translated into Chinese an d the psychometric properties of this translated scale (FACT-G [Ch]) were t ested with a Chinese sample in Hong Kong, China. METHODS. A total of 1262 Chinese cancer patients were selected in 3 samples from 5 Hong Kong regional hospitals. Quantitative and qualitative data wer e used to assess the cultural equivalence, factor structure, reliability, a nd validity of the FACT-G (Ch). RESULTS. Focus group discussions indicated that the FACT-G was seen as cove ring QoL domains identified as important and relevant to Chinese cancer pat ients, though in some respects it was seen as having limited scope in this sample. Psychometrically, the factor structure of the FACT-G deviated from that of the original work The FACT-G (Ch) had acceptable reliability (Cronb ach alpha 0.85). The convergent validity of the FACT-G (Ch) with a generic QoL measure (WHO-QOL-BREF[HK]) was 0.72 (P < 0.001), and divergent validity showed low correlations of less than 0.15 (P < 0.05) with non-gel measures . CONCLUSIONS. Focus group data indicated that the FACT-G translation into Ch inese was seen as a conceptually relevant and moderately sufficient QoL mea sure. Psychometrically, the instrument had acceptable properties, but conce ptual differences from the original version were suggested. Although more w ork is needed to increase its adequacy, the translated scale has reasonable utility for use with Chinese populations in clinical settings. (C) 2000 Am erican Cancer Society.