Overview
The NCCN/FACT Lung Cancer Symptom Index-17 (NFLSI-17) is a brief symptom index for patients with advanced lung cancer. It was developed with input from 50 patients with advanced lung cancer who were recruited from National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) member institutions and community support agencies, along with 10 physician experts who were recruited from NCCN institutions. Patients reported symptoms associated with their disease in an open-ended format and then completed a checklist of symptoms, rating their 5 most important symptoms. Patient and provider ratings of symptom importance were tabulated to construct NFLSI-17. Patients also completed the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung (FACT-L), which was used to preliminarily validate the NFLSI-17. Based on this input, the NFLSI-17 is composed of 17 priority symptoms, 11 that are disease related, 3 that are treatment related, and 3 that are related to general functional well-being. Data on 15 of 17 NFLSI-17 symptoms showed good internal consistency (alpha = 0.74) and strong association with the FACT-L total and most subscale scores (r = 0.42-0.92).
MEASURE NAME:
Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Lung Cancer Symptom Index – 17 Item Version (NFLSI-17)
VERSION:
2
NUMBER OF ITEMS:
17
PATIENT POPULATION:
Lung cancer patients 18 years and older
RECALL PERIOD:
Past 7 days
RESPONSE SCALE:
5 point Likert-type scale
DATA COLLECTION:
Paper and electronic
ADMINISTRATION:
Self-administration and interview when applicable
SUBSCALE DOMAINS:
Disease-Related Symptoms – Physical, Disease-Related Symptoms – Emotional, Treatment Side-Effects, Function/Well-Being
TIME FOR COMPLETION:
5-10 minutes
SCORING:
Manual scoring template, some items are reverse scored. Subscale scores and total scores available.
RELATED MEASURES:
Language Availability
Available translations of the NFLSI-17 can be obtained by registering for permission. Users are not permitted to translate the NFLSI-17 without permission from FACIT.org. Permission from FACIT.org to translate the NFLSI-17 may also be contingent upon timeline expectations and availability of FACIT staff. Translations must undergo a rigorous methodology under the guidance of FACIT.org which includes multiple translators, QA steps and cognitive interviews with patients. For commercial use, FACITtrans is the approved translation vendor to translate the FACIT measurement system.
Please contact us for more information.
Licensing
Licensing fees are assessed on a per trial/per measure basis for commercial use. There is no fee for use of the English version, but a license should be obtained.
Non-commercial use is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Licensing fees are typically not applied to investigator-initiated research, students, or clinical use.
To license an available version of this measure for commercial or non-commercial use, please complete our registration form. All of the information provided in the form will be kept strictly confidential. For questions, please contact us.
Selected References
Cella, D., Paul, D., Yount, S., Winn, R., Chang, C-H, Banik, D., & Weeks, J. What are the most important symptom targets when treating advanced cancer? A survey of providers in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). Cancer Investigation 2003; 21(4): 526-535. doi: 10.108/CNV-120022366.
Cella, D., Rosenbloom, S., Beaumont, J., Yount, J., Paul, D., Hampton, D., Abernethy, A., Jacobsen, P., Syrjala, K., & Von Roenn, J. Development and validation of 11 symptom indexes to evaluate response to chemotherapy for advanced cancer. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network; 2011; 9(3): 268-278. doi: 10.6004/jnccn.2011.0026.
Rosenbloom, S., Yount, S., Yost, K., Hampton, D., Paul, D., Abernethy, A., Jacobsen, P., Syrjala, K., Von Roenn, J., & Cella, D. Development and validation of eleven symptom indices to evaluate response to chemotherapy for advanced cancer: Measurement compliance with regulatory demands. Farquhar, I., Summers, K., Sorkin, A. (Eds.). The Value of Innovation: Impacts on Health, Life Quality and Regulatory Research. Emerald Group Publishing Inc. 2007; 16: 53-66. doi: 10.1016/S0194-3960(08)16003-6.
Yount, S., Beaumont, J., Rosenbloom, S., Cella, D., Patel, J., Hensing, T., Jacobsen, P., Syrjala, K., & Abernethy, A. A brief symptom index for advanced lung cancer. Clinical Lung Cancer 2012; 13(1): 14-23. doi: 10.1016/j.cllc.2011.03.033.
Bonomi, A.E., Cella, D.D., Hahn, E.A., Bjordal, K., Sperner, B., Gangeri, L., Bergman, B., Willems, J., Hanquet, P., & Zittoun, R. Multilingual translation of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT) quality of life measurement system. Quality of Life Research 1996; 5: 309-320.
Eremenco, S., Arnold, B., Cella, D. A comprehensive method for the translation and cross-cultural validation of health status questionnaires. Evaluation & the Health Professions 2005; 28(2): 212-232.
Webster K., Cella D., Yost K. The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) measurement system: Properties applications, and interpretation. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2003; 1(1): 79-85.
Yost K.J., Eton D.T. Combining distribution- and anchor-based approaches to determine minimally important differences: The FACIT experience. Evaluation & the Health Professions 2005; 28(2): 172-191.
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