The WISP project
Project summary
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.
Achievements
– We completed the 9 pilot-testing of the translated versions of WISP.
– We finished the data collection planned for this project in 8 countries.
Current status:
We are currently writing the first manuscript with the results of the WISP project and the EORTC document to analyse and interpret WISP (Phase IV).
Future plans
We anticipate completing Phase IV of this project by September 2023.
For patients
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.