Reworking the QLG guidelines for assessing Quality of Life in EORTC clinical trials – updating and rewriting by incorporating cutting-edge advice on PROs and input from relevant QLG projects (REQUALIFY)

The current edition of ‘’Guidelines for assessing Quality of Life in EORTC clinical trials’’ is over two decades old. The guidance given in this “blue book” has become obsolete in several respects.

Therefore, this Quality of Life Group (QLG) research project aims at updating the guidelines based on recent publications and initiatives on best practices in implementing, assessing, and interpreting quality of life (QoL) data in cancer clinical trials. Furthermore, the expertise and data from other QLG projects will be used to update the guidelines. Additionally, a structured liaison process will be developed and included in the guidelines, including liaisons’ expected duties and responsibilities, eligibility criteria, time frame and funding.

The project has started in February 2024. The guidelines are currently being reviewed to identify sections to update and subjects to add.

Review of the current ‘Guidelines for assessing Quality of Life in EORTC clinical trials’.

Update and revision of the guidelines.

Dissemination and development of a training program and sustainability plan.

It is important that quality of life data obtained in cancer clinical trials is collected, analyzed and reported properly. Therefore, over two decades ago a guideline entitled ‘‘’Guidelines for assessing Quality of Life in EORTC clinical trials’’ was developed. Since the development of these guidelines, new initiatives and research have been conducted on collecting and reporting of quality of life data from clinical trials. Therefore, the aim of this project is to update the guidelines with the latest information from recent research and initiatives. The guidelines will help designing clinical trials and educate staff at the EORTC on conducting clinical trials that collect quality of life data.