Informational Needs of Korean Women with Breast Cancer: Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Toronto Informational Needs Questionnaire of Breast Cancer

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to adopt an instrument suitable for assessing the informational needs of Korean women with breast cancer.

Methods

This was a cross-cultural adaptation into Korean and quantitative validation of the 52-item Toronto Informational Needs Questionnaire of Breast Cancer (TINQ-BC). In the validation phase, we assessed the psychometric properties of the instrument in a cross-sectional survey of 164 Korean women with breast cancer participating in self-support groups.

Results

Construct and content validity of the instrument was established. Internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha was .97. Using confirmatory factor analysis, factor loadings ranging from .54 to .87 were obtained and considered satisfactory. All 52 items of the TINQ-BC were found to be effective at measuring the informational needs of Korean women with breast cancer. According to the adapted scale, the Korean Informational Needs Questionnaire of Breast Cancer, the informational needs of Korean women with breast cancer were high, with a mean total score of 203.61 (standard deviation, 34.43; range, 109–255).

Conclusion

The TINQ-BC, developed and tested in Canada, was adapted and successfully utilized in this study in Korea, indicating that it has the potential to assess the informational needs of women with breast cancer on an international basis. Health care professionals must be aware of the domains of information that these women perceive to be important so that educational interventions can be effectively planned and executed.

Key Words:  breast neoplasms , cross-cultural study , informational needs , needs assessment , quality of life

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