The WISP project

The aim of this project is to validate an international brief instrument with open-ended responses that can be used alongside the EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL and the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaires. This instrument named ‘Write In three Symptoms/Problems’ (WISP), allows patients to report up to three symptoms and problems not covered by the EORTC questionnaires. It was developed in Denmark and has been used successfully for symptom assessment of patients in palliative care since 2010.

Following the pilot testing of the WISP translations, the new WISP instrument will be tested alongside EORTC questionnaires in cancer patients receiving curative and palliative treatment. Furthermore, we will develop an EORTC guideline for the use of this instrument and how to analyze its results.

• Seven out of nine DPAs are completed.
• We have finished the nine translations of WISP for this project.
• The pilot-testing of WISP was completed in Chile and will start in other countries in the next few months.

Current status:

We are waiting for the project to be approved by the ethics committees to start the pilot-testing of WISP translations in each country involved in the project (Phase III).

We anticipate completing Phase III of this project by September to November 2022.

The EORTC Quality of Life Group has developed several questionnaires to assess the perspective of cancer patients on their own symptomatology. However, static questionnaires with closed-ended responses can never cover all possible symptoms and problems experienced by these patients. Therefore, to improve the comprehensiveness of symptom assessment in cancer patients, this project aims to validate a short instrument with open-ended responses that permits patients to report up to three additional symptoms not included in the EORTC questionnaire they have completed. The results from this project will help doctors to understand the symptomatology of the disease and improve the treatment for cancer patients in the future.