Patients agreeing to participate will be invited to complete a simple diary as a memory aid to assist completion of the 6-month questionnaire.
Previous research has demonstrated the potential of a range of different modes of data collection in these ethnic groups (where illiteracy rates are high), including audio versions of questionnaires, as well as assisted completion, depending on the type of questionnaire to be completed [ 13].
Thus, the objective of our study was to analyse and compare patient-reported QOL and physical/psychosocial symptom burden, measured by repeated computer-assisted completion of validated questionnaires in patients with pancreatic cancer and cancer of the bile ducts, from adjuvant treatment to palliative 3rd-line therapy.
The female research assistants did the filming, had lengthy interviews with the parents, and assisted with completion of the questionnaires, activities that might have instigated increased parental reflection and awareness of their children.
The investigators assisted the completion of the questionnaires in case the parents had problems of semantics or conceptual understanding.
A researcher visited eligible participants at home and assisted their completion of the survey instruments, to provide a baseline assessment of current depressive, exercise and overall health status.
VG, SB and SV were part of the AIIMS research team in India that conducted the entire survey and assisted with completion of this investigation.
For all these tests, the investigator assisted in completion of the scores, as although the STAI-Y1 is a self-completion questionnaire, we were concerned that motor and sensory deficit, especially in most severe patients, could hamper writing.
In another study of the use of the electromagnetic colonoscope involving 78 patients, looping occurred in 33% of the cases and led to the application of abdominal pressure and early position changes that assisted the completion of the examination [ 7].
Well designed statistical approaches that quickly identify optimal conditions for a given assay could assist efficient completion of the laboratory assays for such studies.
