Purpose: We developed a self-administered paper based instrument to assess patient preferences quantified as utilities for common outcomes associated with the management of prostate cancer.
Materials and methods: A total of 50 patients was invited to test a self-administered paper based instrument designed to assess preferences for health outcomes associated with the management of localized prostate cancer. The 50 patients were selected from a group of 625 randomly identified men with prostate cancer who responded to a survey instrument designed to assess health related quality of life. The 50 patients selected for this pilot project were chosen because of the wide range of responses to the quality of life survey. Patient utilities were assessed for the 5 health states of overall quality of life, problems related to prostate cancer, and problems related to urinary, bowel and sexual dysfunction.
Results: Patients were able to complete the assigned tasks. The self-administered instrument had high test-retest reliability. In addition results obtained from this instrument showed a correlation with results obtained from assessments using other instruments, including an analog scale, a computer based system known as U-Titer, a quality of life survey and the Health Utility Index:3.
Conclusions: A self-administered paper based instrument can be used to assess patient utilities for health states associated with prostate cancer management. Results from the instrument tested appear to be reliable and valid, and are comparable to those obtained from other assessment techniques. A self-administered paper based instrument has distinct advantages when conducting large survey studies because it can be incorporated at relatively low cost.