림프부종에서 유방암 관련 림프부종 환자의 한국판 삶의 질 도구의 번역과 타당도 및 신뢰도 검증

Breast cancer is one of the cancers with good prognosis although the incidence rate is high. Since the number of cancer survivors are rising, it is important for the patients to understand the side effects after breast cancer treatment such as lymphedema for them to seek a better quality of life. The purpose of this study was to translate the English version of LYMQoL to Korean and to test the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the questionnaire among patients with Breast Cancer related Lymphedema (BCRL) in Korea. In total, 66 patients with BCRL participated in this study. Short-form 36 (SF-36) was used to evaluate the validity of associated domains in Lymphedema Quality of Life Tool (LYMQoL). Both the LYMQoL and SF-36 were filled out by BCRL patients. To evaluate its test-retest reliability, the LYMQoL was subsequently performed one week following its initial application. Measurement properties such as internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and criterion validity were tested. The internal consistency was assessed via Cronbach’s alpha; test-retest reliability was assessed by the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Cronbach’s alpha values ranged from 0.94 to 0.96 for the LYMQoL total and domain scores. Test-retest reliability was excellent (ICC=0.79-0.82). When the relation between LYMQoL and SF-36 was investigated, most of factors between LYMQoL and subscales of SF-36 showed correlations. Korean version of LYMQoL is a validated quality of life assessment tool for use among people with BCRL.