Abstract
Quality of life in terminal oncological patients measured by the ql-ca-afex. The aim of this study is to analyse quality of life in terminally ill cancer patients by means of the QL-CA-AFex, and examine in this sample the psychometric properties of that scale. The QL-CA-AFex was administered in a sample of 91 terminal oncological patients. It was analysed the psychometric properties of reliability (internal consistency and test-retest reliability) and validity (internal structure and ability to discriminate). Symptoms were the most important aspects in determining quality of life, although psychological aspects such as anxiety and depression, were also relevant. QL-CA-AFex showed satisfactory internal consistency. (Cronbach's α for the total items: 0.83; Cronbach's α for the subscales: 0.75-0.94). Testretest correlation coefficients for the QL-CA-AFex subscales ranged from 0.32 to 0.55. Factor analysis resulted in a three factor solution related to physical aspects, emotional aspects and family resources respectively. QL-CA-AFex showed ability to discriminate between known groups based on sociodemographic and clinical variables. Quality of life not necessarily declines as illness progress. QL-CAAFex has shown to be satisfactorily valid and reliable to measure quality of life in terminal oncological patients, although its utility in clinical practice is still not determined.
