Use of electronic quality of life applications in cancer research and clinical practice.

Outcome measures of cancer treatment should include measures of quality of life, in addition to survival and objective response. Electronic administration of quality of life measures has made regular monitoring of the quality of life of individual cancer patients possible and feasible. Electronic questionnaires were well accepted by patients, had good test-retest reliability and were comparable with traditional paper-and-pen methods. Several randomized studies have shown that using quality of life screening in clinical practice can facilitate patient-doctor communication, without increasing consultation time. In one study, the regular assessment of quality of life resulted in benefits for some patients, who had better well-being and emotional functioning. Research is ongoing in developing computer-adaptive questionnaires to reduce patient burden and provide a more precise measurement. Further research using randomized controlled studies is necessary before the monitoring of individual patients' quality of life is recommended for routine practice. Special attention should be paid to training physicians in using the quality of life scores.