Developing and Validating a Patient-reported Outcome Instrument to Monitor Symptom Management in Pulmonary Exacerbation in CF

The aim of this study is to develop a reliable and valid instrument to measure symptom management (experience and / or management strategies) during exacerbation episodes in CF patients. For the development a sequential exploratory two phase mixed-method study will be applied. In a first step, up to 25 CF patients will be interviewed: approximately 15 CF patients who experienced at least one episode of exacerbation in the past year and approximately CF 10 patients who are currently experiencing an exacerbation. The latter group will be interviewed up to 3 times during and after the antibiotic treatment. The instruments initial item list will be developed on basis of the interviews. Up to five health professionals will rate the items' relevance. In a further step, items' clarity and relevance will be assessed by cognitive debriefing interviews with no more than 10 patients. In the last step (part III), the instrument's preliminary construct and concurrent validity and reliability will be tested in a larger sample up to 150 patients experiencing exacerbation. Patients will be asked to complete the newly developed questionnaires and a set of other questionnaires at one time point. For part III, ethic approval will be asked at a later date (2015).