Comparability of Interview and Self-Administration of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Tuberculosis (Facit-Tb) Instrument in Iraqi Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients

Abstract

Objectives To investigate the extent to which two different modes of administration (interview by a trained interviewer versus self-administration) yielded a comparable estimate of health-related quality of life (HRQL) in pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients.

Methods The study was conducted between September 1st 2012 and July 31st 2013, among consecutive PTB patients treated at Thoracic and Respiratory Disease Specialist Centre in Baghdad, Iraq. The mode of administration of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Tuberculosis (FACIT-TB); a new tuberculosis (TB) -specific instrument, at baseline was registered in 305 subjects.

Results Although the FACIT-TB was designed for self-administration, most patients in our sample (N = 193,63.278%) requested some help from the interviewer to fill out the questionnaire. Mann Whitney U test showed that those patients capable of self-administration were younger (38.16 ± 12.93 versus 43.58 ± 16.41 years, P = 0.005) and required less time to complete the questionnaire compared to those who interviewed by a trained interviewer (14.64 ± 3.24 versus 17.22 ± 2.61 minutes, P < 0.001), while Chi-Square statistics showed that this group of patients had a higher education level (P < 0.001). No differences in gender were observed. HRQL score across all domains for those who interviewed by a trained investigator was slightly lower than those who answered the questionnaire by self-administration. However, the results did not reach statistical significance (P> 0.05).

Conclusions Technical equivalence has been demonstrated in the sample of PTB patients in Iraq. FACIT-TB instrument is flexible and it is able to accommodate the needs of patients with diverse social, educational, and functional skills. Technical equivalence across different modes of administration of questionnaire permits unbiased assessment of the impact of the disease and its treatments on patients' HRQL.