Development and pan-European validation of the EUonQoL-Kit for people living with and beyond cancer
Abstract
Background: Assessing quality of life in people living with and beyond cancer requires measures that are person-centred, cross-culturally valid, and applicable across European settings. EUonQoL (euonqol.eu) is a Mission Cancer funded project, aimed to co-create and validate a standardised European quality of life instrument for patients receiving active treatment, cancer survivors, and patients in need of palliative care, ensuring acceptability and psychometric robustness.
Methods: The EUonQoL-Kit was developed through a two-phase, multi-stakeholder co-design process. Phase 1 combined systematic literature reviews, a Delphi survey with patients and healthcare professionals, and semi-structured interviews in six European countries. This process resulted in a five-domain framework covering Physical health, Psychological wellbeing, Social health, Overall health, and Health care. Version 2 was translated and culturally adapted into 30 languages. In Phase 2, version 2 was validated in a multicentre pan-European survey conducted in 44 centres across 32 countries, including 4,302 participants from the three target populations. Both static and dynamic formats were assessed.
Results: The EUonQoL-Kit showed good acceptability, with high completion rates and low respondent burden, although some patients in palliative care required support. Psychometric analyses supported reliability, structural validity, concurrent validity, and test–retest reliability, with most scores exceeding accepted thresholds. Construct validity was supported by poorer quality of life outcomes in patients with more advanced disease and worse ECOG (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) status.
Conclusions: These findings supported the final consensus leading to the EUonQoL-Kit V3.
Related
- I.3. Scientific session: Measuring what matters for people living with or beyond cancer in Europe: the EUonQoL-Kit
- Development, validation and initial application of a patient-reported outcome measure to assess treatment burden for people living with multimorbidity in low-income settings in South Africa (SIMMBA)
- Promoting equitable cancer care: learnings from the development of the Optimal Care Pathway for people living in rural and remote areas with cancer
- Sustainability of the EUonQoL-Kit: embedding cancer quality of life measurement in European policy
- Co-production using Theory of Change in the development of the SUCCEED Africa community-based rehabilitation intervention for people living with psychosis in West and Southeast Africa
BibTeX
@article{garin2026development,
title = {{Development and pan-European validation of the EUonQoL-Kit for people living with and beyond cancer}},
author = {O Garin and M Ferrer and L Caselli and C Brunelli},
journal = {The European Journal of Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.146},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.146},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Development and pan-European validation of the EUonQoL-Kit for people living with and beyond cancer
AU - O Garin
AU - M Ferrer
AU - L Caselli
AU - C Brunelli
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - The European Journal of Public Health
DO - 10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.146
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.146
AB - Background: Assessing quality of life in people living with and beyond cancer requires measures that are person-centred, cross-culturally valid, and applicable across European settings. EUonQoL (euonqol.eu) is a Mission Cancer funded project, aimed to co-create and validate a standardised European quality of life instrument for patients receiving active treatment, cancer survivors, and patients in need of palliative care, ensuring acceptability and psychometric robustness. Methods: The EUonQoL-Kit was developed through a two-phase, multi-stakeholder co-design process. Phase 1 combined systematic literature reviews, a Delphi survey with patients and healthcare professionals, and semi-structured interviews in six European countries. This process resulted in a five-domain framework covering Physical health, Psychological wellbeing, Social health, Overall health, and Health care. Version 2 was translated and culturally adapted into 30 languages. In Phase 2, version 2 was validated in a multicentre pan-European survey conducted in 44 centres across 32 countries, including 4,302 participants from the three target populations. Both static and dynamic formats were assessed. Results: The EUonQoL-Kit showed good acceptability, with high completion rates and low respondent burden, although some patients in palliative care required support. Psychometric analyses supported reliability, structural validity, concurrent validity, and test–retest reliability, with most scores exceeding accepted thresholds. Construct validity was supported by poorer quality of life outcomes in patients with more advanced disease and worse ECOG (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) status. Conclusions: These findings supported the final consensus leading to the EUonQoL-Kit V3.
SN - 1101-1262
SN - 1464-360X
ER -