Validity and Reliability of the Decision Regret Scale in Cancer Patients Receiving Adjuvant Chemotherapy.

OBJECTIVES: Decisional regret is an indicator of satisfaction with the treatment decision and can help to identify those patients who need more support and evaluate the efficacy of decision support interventions. The objectives of this study are, 1) to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Decision Regret Scale and 2) to analyze the moderating effect of psychological distress on functional status and regret in patients with cancer following adjuvancy.

METHODS: A prospective, multicenter cohort of 403 patients who completed the Decision Regret Scale (DRS), Health-Related Quality of Life (EORTC QLQ-C30), and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). The evaluation was conducted six months after receiving adjuvant treatment in patients with resected cancer.

RESULTS: After treatment, most participants (51.9%) experienced no decision regret; 33.7% felt mild regret, and 14.4% exhibited high levels of regret. The Spanish version of the DRS demonstrated satisfactory properties: it had a strong, clear unidimensional factorial structure with substantial loadings. Decisional regret was related with lower scores on functional, symptom, and quality of life scales, and higher levels of psychological distress (all P = 0.001). Psychological distress was found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between functional state and decision regret.

CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish version of the DRS is a reliable, valid tool to evaluate regret and post-decisional quality in clinical practice and further highlights the potential clinical implications of psychological distress for the relation between physical status and regret.