Functional Living Index - Cancer

Name of Questionnaire

Functional Living Index-Cancer (FLIC)

Description

Cancer-specific, functionally-oriented quality of life instrument.

Developer

H Schipper, J Clinch, A McMurray, M Levitt

Address

Harvey Schipper, M.D.
World Health Organization
Collaborating Centre for Quality of Life in Cancer Care
St. Boniface General Hospital Research Centre
351 Tache Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada R2H 2A6
Fax: (204) 235-1231

E-mail

Not available

URL

Not available

Cost & availability

Contact H Schipper for permission

Administration

Self

Time to complete

<10 minutes

Number of items

22

Domains & categories

5

Name of categories/domains

Physical well-being and ability, emotional state, sociability, family situation, nausea

Scaling of items

Linear analogue scale

Scoring

Overall score obtained by summation of scores for each question. Higher score indicates better quality of life.

Reliability

Validity

Factor analysis consistent across three different cancer populations². Concurrent validation studies with Karnofsky, Beck Depression, Spielberger State and Trait Anxiety, and Katz Activities of Daily Living scales, and the scaled version of The General Health Questionnaire and the McGill/Melzack Pain Index². Accounted for a high percentage of the sample variance by principal components¹. Convergent-discriminant validity shown with independent measures of symptoms and anxiety¹.

Responsiveness

Not reported

Minimally important difference

Not reported

Research use

Reported - lung cancer surgical adjuvant trials³, hydrazine sulfate in newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer⁴, comparison of quality of life for best supportive care vs. best supportive care plus chemotherapy⁵, single-drug chemotherapy in poor-prognosis non-small cell lung cancer⁶

Clinical use

To be tested²

Language

Afrikaans, Austrian German, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Flemish, French (Canadian, French), German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Luganda, Malay, Nobele, Portuguese, Shona, Spanish, Swedish, Thai

References

1. Morrow GR, Lindke J, Black P. Measurement of quality of life in patients: psychometric analyses of the Functional Living Index -- Cancer (FLIC). Qual Life Res 1992; 1:287-96.
2. Schipper H, Clinch J, McMurray A, Levitt M. Measuring the quality of life of cancer patients: the Functional Living Index-Cancer: Development and Validation. J Clin Oncol 1984; 2:472-83.
3. Ruckdeschel JC, Piantadosi S. Quality of life in lung cancer surgical adjuvant trials. Chest 1994; 106:324S-328S.
4. Loprinzi CL, Goldberg RM, Su JQ, et al. Placebo-controlled trial of hydrazine sulfate in patients with newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer. J Clin Oncol 1994; 12:1126-9.
5. Thongprasert S. Lung cancer and quality of life. Aust N Z J Med 1998; 28:397-9.
6. Pujol JL, Monnier A, Berille J, et al. Phase II study of nitrosourea fotemustine as single-drug chemotherapy in poor-prognosis non-small cell lung cancer. Br J Cancer 1994; 69:1136-40.

Date of information

May 1999