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Adolescent-Evaluated Quality of Life: A Longitudinal Study

University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Nursing, Kansas City, Missouri, wardsmithp{at}umkc.edu.

Becki McCaskie, LMSW, LCSW

Children's Mercy Hospitals & Clinics, Kansas City, Missouri

Shannon Rhoton, BSN, RN

University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Nursing, Kansas City, Missouri

Opportunities for adolescents with cancer to interact with each other are few. This project provided a weekend retreat for adolescents with cancer and obtained longitudinal self-evaluated quality of life data. Data were collected using the Adolescent Quality of Life instrument, which is a 16-item Likertscaled survey that assesses quality of life. Twenty-two adolescents attended the weekend, and 17 participated in the study. Evaluations of the weekend retreat were positive, with "making friends" and "meeting others like me" the most frequent comments. Data from the Adolescent Quality of Life instrument revealed that for this population, quality of life was unchanged directly after the weekend and was statistically worse 1 month later. Enrollment methods skewed study participation toward individuals receiving treatment, which may explain these results. The reliability of the Adolescent Quality of Life instrument remained stable over time, and it appears to accurately assess and reflect changes in quality of life.

Key Words: Key words: quality of life • adolescent • cancer • longitudinal data

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Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing, Vol. 24, No. 6, 329-333 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1043454207308067


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Ward-Smith, P. Articles by Rhoton, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ward-Smith, P. Articles by Rhoton, S. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Cancer Social Bookmarking                         What's this?