A comparison of two measures of quality of life: their sensitivity and validity for patients with advanced cancer

Abstract

We compared two measures that have been used by professionals to assess the quality of life and care of patients with advanced cancer. The Support Team Assessment Schedule (STAS) is an instrument for palliative cancer support teams to record and evaluate their care; the Hebrew Rehabilitation Centre for the Aged Quality of Life (HRCA-QL) index was used in the National Hospice Study (USA) to assess patients with advanced cancer. STAS has 17 items, each scaled 0 (best) to 4 (worst), and HRCA-QL has five items scaled 0 (worst) to 2 (best). The STAS and the HRCA-QL were assessed contemporaneously by the members of one support team on 128 consecutive patients referred over 17 months. Seventy-four patients spent more than four weeks in care. Ratings for four out of five HRCA-QL items deteriorated significantly in the four to six weeks before death. HRCA-QL index items correlated with similar STAS items. Correlations were highest at referral, especially in patients seen more than four weeks before death (e.g. symptom control (STAS) with health (HRCA-QL) Spearman's rho = -0.64) and the HRCA-QL total was correlated with STAS subtotal of six items (rho = -0.45). There were few correlations at death. The findings support the validity of both measures for the aspects compared, but indicated that STAS was more sensitive to changes in patients in the last six weeks of life.