Developing an instrument to assess cancer patient preparedness for transition to survivorship care in Korea.

Purpose: The current study specified the initial qualitative stage to develop an instrument that assesses whether patients with cancer in Korea are ready for the transition from hospital‐based to community‐based survivorship care, focusing on psychosocial and behavioral aspects. Methods: Individual interviews with cancer survivors, family members, and healthcare professionals in South Korea were conducted. Subsequently, analyses of qualitative data for creating items and pilot testing were performed to develop an instrument for Korean cancer survivors. Results: An item pool for an initial version of a new instrument called the "Preparedness for Transition to Survivorship Care Instrument (PTSCI)" was developed by creating 20 themes and 41 subthemes around each of the 401 codes. After assessing face validity, a set of 46 items was chosen. The 46 items were organized into 6 components: (1) physical, (2) cognitive, (3) psychological, (4) social, (5) health management, and (6) information. The Cronbach's alpha of the instrument in the pilot testing was 0.872. Discussion: The PTSCI offers an opportunity to identify the psychosocial and behavioral status of patients with cancer in the survivorship phase. This new instrument can be used to test psychosocial and behavioral interventions for individuals who are not ready for the survivorship care phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]