Psychometric properties of the Fear of Progression Questionnaire for parents of children with cancer (FoP-Q-SF/PR).

OBJECTIVE: Psychometric properties of the Fear of Progression Questionnaire - Short Form (FoP-Q-SF) were shown to be good in samples of adult cancer patients and their partners but have so far not been investigated in parents of children with cancer. This study therefore aimed to examine psychometric properties of the previously adapted parent version of the Fear of Progression Questionnaire (FoP-Q-SF/PR) in pediatric oncology.

METHODS: N=181 parents (119 mothers, 62 fathers) of n=128 children with diverse cancer entities, up to ten years after diagnosis were recruited at six hospitals and six registered parent associations in Germany and Austria between 06/2015 and 05/2016 (cross-sectional design). Parents provided medical information about their child and completed standardized questionnaires (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS; State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI; Impact of Event Scale-Revised, IES-R; Ulm Quality of Life Inventory for Parents, ULQIE; Giessen Physical Complaints Inventory for children and adolescents, GBB-KJ).

RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis yielded two factors (50.2% explained variance) and internal consistency was good (Cronbach's α=0.89). Significant medium to large correlations of the FoP-Q-SF/PR were observed with anxiety (HADS: r=0.68; STAI: r=0.60-0.61), depression (HADS: r=0.58), posttraumatic stress (IES-R: r=0.42-0.64) and quality of life (ULQIE: r=-0.59). The FoP-Q-SF/PR discriminated between sub-groups, e.g. parents with and without clinical anxiety levels (Cohen's d=1.26).

CONCLUSION: The FoP-Q-SF/PR demonstrated good reliability and validity for parents of children with cancer. The FoP-Q-SF/PR is a feasible screening instrument, which is suitable for the assessment of parental FoP in pediatric oncology.