The symptom monitor. A diary for monitoring physical symptoms for cancer patients in palliative care: feasibility, reliability and compliance

The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, reliability and compliance of a new instrument, a diary to monitor physical symptoms for patients with cancer in the palliative phase of their illness. The development of the diary took place in three phases: two pilot studies and one intervention study. In Pilot I, reliability was tested within 13 pairs of patients and their proxy in a patient-proxy comparison. Pilot II was performed to test the feasibility of the instrument among 47 frail elderly. In the intervention study among patients with cancer in the palliative phase, the feasibility as well as the compliance has been tested. The phases have been completed with good results: reliability (ICC) of prevalent symptoms was above 0.75, good feasibility and good compliance. The Symptom Monitor can be used by patients and doctors as an instrument to monitor physical symptoms. The effectiveness of the use of this diary for improvement in treatment of symptoms in the palliative phase of cancer is being tested in a randomized clinical trial.