This study was conducted to examine the relationship among health-related quality of life, smoking knowledge, smoking attitude, and smoking cessation intention in male smokers.

The subjects were 259 male smokers in J city. The data was collected using structured questionnaires from Nov. to Dec. of 2003. The data was analyzed by the SPSS (ver.10.0)computer program, and it included descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, the Pearson correlation coefficient, and Stepwise Multiple Regression.

The smoking cessation intention had a significant positive correlation among health-related quality of life (r=.159), smoking knowledge (r=.161), and smoking attitude (r=.127). These variables account for 26.8% of smoking cessation intention.

These results suggested that the smoking cessation program to enhance the health-related quality of life, smoking knowledge, and smoking cessation intention and to increase a negative influence on smoking attitude need to be developed. Therefore, these findings give useful information for constructing a smoking cessation program in male smokers.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a computerized touch-screen version of the asthma-specific quality-of-life (cA-QOL) questionnaire against the conventional paper-and-pencil version (pA-QOL) for equivalence, time for completion, user preference, and ease of use.

A total of 261 patients were recruited. A randomized cross-over design was used. Patients in group A completed the cA-QOL first while waiting to see a physician, and completed the pA-QOL version after seeing the physician. Patients allocated in group B completed these questionnaires in the reverse order. The patients were asked questions about user preference and ease of use of the cA-QOL. The time taken to complete both versions of the questionnaire was measured.

Weighted kappa coefficients of all items showed almost perfect agreement. The time required to complete the pA-QOL is faster than the time for cA-QOL. The patients who preferred the cA-QOL were 37.5%, while those who preferred the pA-QOL were 29.9%. Most patients reported that the cA-QOL was "easy" or "very easy" to complete.

The cA-QOL is the computerized equivalent of the pA-QOL. The findings herein demonstrate that the cA-QOL can be helpful to nurses in busy practices for assessing, collecting, and evaluating their patients' health related quality of life.

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a quality of life scale for Korean patients with cancer (C-QOL).

The C-QOL was developed and validated as follows; item generation, pilot study, and psychometric tests. A total of 337 patients diagnosed with stomach, liver, lung, colon, breast, or cervix cancer were recruited. The patients were asked to complete the preliminary questionnaire comprising the content-validated items, the SF-36, and the ECOG performance status. The obtained data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, multidimensional scaling (MDS), multitrait/multi-item matrix, ANOVA, t-test, and Cronbach's alpha.

Preliminarily twenty-six items were generated through content validity and a pilot study. Factor analysis and MDS extracted a total of 21 items with a 5-point Likert-type scale (C-QOL). The C-QOL included five subscales: physical status (6 items), emotional status (6 items), social function (3 items), concern status (2 items), and coping function (4 items). The C-QOL established content validity, construct validity, item convergent and discriminant validity, known-groups validity, reliability, and sensitivity.

The Newly developed C-QOL is an easily applicable instrument which established psychometric properties and reflected Korean culture. It is recommended for further study to examine the responsiveness of the C-QOL using a longitudinal research design.