Patients'and doctors' views of using the schedule for individual quality of life in clinical practice.

This study explored patients' and oncologists' perceptions of using a computer-administered, individualized quality-of-life (QOL) instrument to support an oncologic consultation. Twenty patients with gastrointestinal cancer (50% female; mean age 60 years) at two hospitals in Sweden completed the Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life-Direct Weight (SEIQoL-DW) and the Disease-Related (DR) SEIQoL-DW and brought the results to the consultation. Afterwards, interviews were conducted with all patients and six of eight doctors. All interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using an interpretivist approach. Most patients and doctors believed that the instrument would facilitate detection of patients' areas of concern and would support monitoring of patients' QOL. This tool may empower the patient, give the doctor a broader picture of the patient, and influence clinical decision-making. The SEIQoL-DW may be a systematic method of stimulating patient-centered care. It apparently encourages patients to reflect upon their own situation and allows them to be seen as whole persons. However, further quantitative evaluation of the intervention's outcomes is required.