THE DEVELOPMENT OF FACT-G
1. Cancer patients and oncology physicians and nurses generated a list of potential items.
2. Psychologists conducted a structured interview with patients, which began with open-ended prompt to report as many factors as possible which impact on QoL, followed by more focused questions on different aspects of QoL.
3. Oncologists reviewed the patient-generated list and added any other items they felt necessary.
4. A group of 90 patients ranked the 137 items using a Likert scale (1 = little / no importance; 4 = very important) and only those rated ‘very’ or ‘extremely important’ were retained.
5. Oncologists, nurses and psychologists reviewed this list and eliminated any redundant items.
6. The final list of 38 items was reviewed to ensure reasonable content and coverage.
7. The final phase involved the piloting of different response modes and rewording of ambiguous items.