QLQ-MEL38 Validation Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
International validation study of the EORTC QLQ-MEL-38, a new melanoma quality of life questionnaire, in a sample of patients from Australia and the UK
IRAS ID
202506
Contact name
Teresa Young
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
East & North Hertfordshire NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Melanoma is a type of cancer that affects the skin and can spread to local lymph nodes or more widely to areas such as the brain and lungs. If detected early many patients can be treated and remain disease free, but there is always a risk of recurrence. This, and the knowledge that exposure to excessive sun is dangerous can lead to lifestyle changes impacting on quality of life. Treatment too can impact on quality of life, especially treatment for advanced melanoma which has spread. The arrival of new treatments in recent years means that patients often have to make complicated choices or accept that new treatments may not be suitable for them. Communication with the medical team caring for them is therefore crucial. It is important to have questionnaires that monitor quality of life alongside scans and Xrays that look for medical changes. Such information can be used to detect new problems amongst existing patients and can also help inform future patients about what to expect. The EORTC Quality of Life Group have been working to develop a melanoma specific quality of life measure. The questions on the measure are all included because they are from issues that patients raised in earlier phases of the study. However it is now necessary to validate the measure in a large multicentre study, to ensure that the questionnaire is sensitive (i.e. if the patient’s condition changes the questionnaire can detect any associated change in quality of life) and reliable (i.e. if the patient’s condition remains stable, they would give similar responses to the questions if asked again.) This can be done in a large multicentre study recruiting patients at all stages of Melanoma with some patients on treatment whilst others are disease free and in just being monitored for recurrence.
REC name
London - Stanmore Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1590
Date of REC Opinion
9 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion