Published Paper Details:

The study was undertaken to obtain an overview of patterns of cancer in different part of Gujarat state. This study tests the validity and reliability of head and neck cancer module (QLQ-H&N) and the GORTC Core Questionnaire (QLQ) which was developed by the Gujarat Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (GORTC) and tested on 500 head and neck cancer patients from 12 cities. The patients completed the QLQ-C, the QLQ-H&N and a debriefing questionnaire before anti neoplastic treatment or at a follow-up. Two hundred thirty patients receiving treatment completed a second questionnaire after treatment. Problems were high and the questionnaire was well accepted by the patients. Multigrain scaling analysis confirmed the proposed scale structure of the QLQ-H&N. The QLQ-H&N was responsive between disease status, site and patients with recent performance status, and to changes over time. The new physical functioning scale with a four-point response format of the QLQ-C was shown to be more reliable than previous. The QLQ-H&N, in conjunction with the QLQ-C, shown to be reliable, valid and also applicable to broad multicultural samples of head and neck cancer patients.