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Personal Digital Assistant Data Capture: The Future of Quality of Life Measurement in Prostate Cancer Treatment

The Prostate Centre, Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network; University of Toronto; York University; Cancer Care Ontario; Ontario Cancer Institute; Toronto General Research Institute, University Health Network; Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre; Meridian Software Development, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Corresponding author: Kristen Currie, The Prostate Centre, 4–911, 620 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 2M9; e-mail: kristen.currie{at}uhn.on.ca

Purpose: This article examines the potential use of personal digital assistant (PDA) data capture systems for real-time linear monitoring of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in prostate cancer research and clinical care.

Methods: We discuss the benefits and potential issues of using PDA data capture in the clinical health care setting. In addition, we describe the development and potential use of a PDA data capture system specific to managing HRQOL in prostate cancer treatment.

Conclusion: Follow-up health care clinics require a practical and systematic process of HRQOL data capture and analysis. Traditional paper questionnaire data capture is problematic. Data manipulation required for clinical decision-making is impractical for patient feedback on same-day clinic visits. Furthermore, the process of transforming paper questionnaire data to analysis-quality data can compromise data integrity. In contrast, research findings confirm the acceptability, ease of use, and reliability of PDAs in capturing data across health care settings, including the collection of serial HRQOL data. The main concern for PDA capture systems is the ability to compare respondent's answers between the paper and PDA questionnaire. Other challenges included patients reporting a lack of computer literacy and/or poor eyesight, as well as initial start-up costs. If issues are successfully addressed, the use of a PDA data capture system, such as the PDA HRQOL system at Princess Margaret Hospital's Prostate Centre, allows for valid and economical data collection with the possibility of linear real-time measurement of changes in HRQOL. Accordingly, there appears to be significant potential for PDA data collection of serial HRQOL in prostate cancer clinic settings.