A Systematic Review of Psychometric Properties of Health-Related Quality-of-Life and Symptom Instruments in Adult Acute Leukemia Survivors

Acute leukemia represents 4% of cancer cases in the United States (US) annually. There are over 302,000 people living with acute and chronic leukemia in the US. Treatment has been shown to have both positive and negative effects on health-related quality of life (HRQOL)

Managing large-volume literature searches in research synthesis studies

Systematic reviews typically require searching for, retrieving, and screening a large volume of literature, yet little guidance is available on how to manage this volume

Patient-Reported Symptoms and Quality of Life in Adults With Acute Leukemia: A Systematic Review

Systematically summarize findings from research conducted on adult acute leukemia survivors as they relate to symptoms and quality of life (QOL)

Using a journal availability study to improve access

Purpose: Identify journal collection access and use factors. Setting and Subjects: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Health Sciences Library patrons. Methodology: Survey forms and user interactions were monitored once a week for twelve weeks during the fall 1997 semester. The project was based on a 1989 New Mexico State University study and used Kantor's Branching Analysis to measure responses. Result: 80% of reported sought journal articles were found successfully. Along with journal usage data, the library obtained demographic and behavioral information. Discussion and Conclusions: Journals are the library's most used resource and, even as more electronic journals are offered, print journals continue to make up the majority of the collection. Several factors highlighted the need to study journal availability. User groups indicated that finding journals was problematic, and internal statistics showed people requesting interlibrary loans for owned items. The study looked at success rates, time, and ease of finding journals. A variety of reasons contributed to not finding journals. While overall user reports indicated relatively high success rate and satisfaction, there were problems to be addressed. As the library proceeds in redesigning both the physical space and electronic presence, the collected data have provided valuable direction

A Systematic Review of Psychometric Properties of Health-Related Quality-of-Life and Symptom Instruments in Adult Acute Leukemia Survivors

BACKGROUND: Acute leukemia represents 4% of cancer cases in the United States (US) annually. There are over 302,000 people living with acute and chronic leukemia in the US. Treatment has been shown to have both positive and negative effects on health-related quality of life (HRQOL). OBJECTIVE: Examine psychometric properties of symptom and HRQOL instruments and to provide implications for the assessment in adults with acute leukemia relevant to clinical practice and future research. METHODS: Systematic literature search was conducted from 1990-2014 using electronic databases and manual searches. Psychometric studies were considered eligible for inclusion if 1) the psychometric paper was published using at least one HRQOL or symptom instrument and 2) adults with acute leukemia were included in the sample. Studies were excluded if the age groups were not adults, or if the instrument was in a language other than English. RESULTS: Review identified a total of 7 instruments (1 cancer generic HRQOL, 2 symptom-related, 3 HRQOL combined with symptom questions, and 1 disease- specific). The most commonly used instrument was the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC QLQ-C30), followed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Fatigue (FACT-F). CONCLUSIONS: An acute leukemia diagnosis can have a significant impact on HRQOL. Our recommendations include using both a HRQOL and symptom instrument to capture patient experiences during and after treatment. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The availability of comprehensive, valid and reliable HRQOL and symptom instruments to capture the experiences of adults with acute leukemia during and posttreatment is limited

Managing large-volume literature searches in research synthesis studies

BACKGROUND: Systematic reviews typically require searching for, retrieving, and screening a large volume of literature, yet little guidance is available on how to manage this volume. PURPOSE: We detail methods used to search for and manage the yield of relevant citations for a mixed-methods mixed research synthesis study focused on the intersection between family life and childhood chronic physical conditions. METHOD: We designed inclusive search strings and searched nine bibliographic databases to identify relevant research regardless of methodological origin. We customized searches to individual databases, developed workarounds for transferring large volumes of citations and eliminating duplicate citations using reference management software, and used this software as a portal to select citations for inclusion or exclusion. We identified 67,555 citations, retrieved and screened 3,617 reports, and selected 802 reports for inclusion. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS: Systematic reviews require search procedures to allow consistent and comprehensive approaches and the ability to work around technical obstacles