New Assessment System in Measuring Symptom Distress in Cancer Patients

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To examine how the MD Anderson Inventory (MD Anderson Symptom Inventory \[MDASI\]) or other MD Anderson-developed patient reported outcome (PRO) instrument performs in various sample populations including community dwelling adults and patients who have different cancer types, who have undergone various treatments, and who have different and/or more severe symptoms.

II. To evaluate the MDASI or other MD Anderson-developed PRO instrument as an estimate of functional status and quality of life.

III. To assess the impact of symptom severity on standard function and health-related quality of life measures, including both quantitative and qualitative measures (patient interviews).

IV. To assess the pattern and severity of symptoms over multiple time points in order to assay the system's responsiveness to changes due to therapy or disease.

V. To explore the utility of an interactive voice response (IVR) system in enhancing the clinical care of outpatients.

VI. To explore the effect of information from an IVR symptom assessment system on the pattern of care and development of interdisciplinary protocols.

VII. To explore the feasibility of developing symptom management pathways for patients based on these symptom and quality of life data.

OUTLINE:

Participants complete questionnaires and quality of life assessments, and may also complete interviews over 45 minutes periodically.