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Assessing measurement invariance in the EORTC QLQ-C30
van Roij,Janneke Kieffer,Jacobien M. van de Poll-Franse,Lonneke Husson,Olga Raijmakers,Natasja J. H. Gelissen,John
van Roij,Janneke
Kieffer,Jacobien M.
van de Poll-Franse,Lonneke
Husson,Olga
Raijmakers,Natasja J. H.
Gelissen,John
Abstract
Purpose We aimed to investigate measurement invariance (MI) in the European Organisation for research and treatment of cancer quality of life questionnaire core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) in a heterogeneous sample of patients with cancer. Methods Data from 12 studies within the PROFILES registry were used for secondary analyses (n = 7007). We tested MI by successive restrictions on thresholds, loadings, and intercepts across subgroups based on primary cancer sites, age, sex, time since diagnosis, and life stage, using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) for ordered categorical measures. We also evaluated the impact of potentially miss-specified parameter equality across groups on latent factor means by releasing threshold and loading equality constraints for each item at a time. Results Results showed that the highest level of MI (invariance of thresholds, loadings, and intercepts) was found across groups based on time since diagnosis and life stage and to a lesser extent across groups based on sex, age, and primary tumor site. On item level, however, changes in the item's associated factor means were relatively small and in most cases canceled each other out to some extent. Conclusions Given only a few instances of non-invariance in our study, there is reason to be confident that valid conclusions can be drawn from between-group comparisons of QLQ-C30 latent means as operationalized in our study. Nonetheless, further research into MI between other subgroups for the QLQ-C30 (i.e., treatment effects and ethnicity) is warranted. We stress the importance of including MI evaluations in the development and validation of measurement instruments.
Description
Funding The PROFILES registry was funded by an Investment Grant (No. 480-08-009) of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (The Hague, The Netherlands).
Date
2022
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Publisher
Research Projects
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Keywords
Measurement invariance, Quality of life, Medical oncology, Palliative care, Validation studies, Patient-reported outcomes, QUALITY-OF-LIFE, PATIENT-REPORTED OUTCOMES, CANCER, QUESTIONNAIRE, DIF, FIT, SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
Citation
van Roij, J, Kieffer, J M, van de Poll-Franse, L, Husson, O, Raijmakers, N J H & Gelissen, J 2022, 'Assessing measurement invariance in the EORTC QLQ-C30', Quality of Life Research, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 889-901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-021-02961-8
License
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess