Title: A platform to study the quality of life in oncology patients

Authors: Joaquim Gonçalves; Augusta Silveira; Alvaro Rocha

Addresses: IPCA, Campus do IPCA – Lugar do Aldão, 4750-810 Vila Frescainha S. Martinho BCL, Portugal. ' Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Praça 9 de Abril 349, 4249-004 Porto, Portugal. ' GIMED, Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Praça 9 de Abril 349, 4249-004 Porto, Portugal

Abstract: The perception that an individual holds about his place in life, which depends upon his culture and values, defines this individual|s quality of life (QoL). When applied in a health context, this is known as: health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The assessment of HRQoL is a medical goal; it is used in clinical research, medical practice, health-related economic studies and in planning health management measures and strategies. Obtaining a patient self-assessment with QoL measuring instruments on the platform developed in this project, through friendly software, easy for the user to adapt to, aids the study, promotes the creation of databases, and accelerates its statistical treatment. The possibility of graphically representing results that physician needs to analyse, immediately after the answer collection, makes this assessment a diagnosis instrument ready to be used routinely in clinical practice.

Keywords: oncology patients; health-related quality of life; HRQoL; knowledge management systems; KMS; human-computer interaction; HCI; cancer patients; patient self-assessment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISCM.2011.044501

International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management, 2011 Vol.5 No.3, pp.209 - 220

Received: 29 Apr 2011
Accepted: 21 Jul 2011
Published online: 29 Nov 2014 *

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