Quality of life tools for adult patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy: a systematic review.

The use of chemotherapeutic agents for treatment of cancer has expanded widely with multiple potent agents being administered at higher but more tolerable doses. The majority of these patients receive several cycles of chemotherapy over a period of months, resulting in a toxic physiologic environment that causes adverse effects. These adverse effects can lead to a significant impact on the patients' quality of life. Despite the amount of information regarding quality of life (QoL) instruments available in the literature, no systematic review has been conducted that examined QoL instrument that consists of all four subscales of physical, psychological, social and spiritual psychometric properties using a systematic approach.