Development and validation of the information needs questionnaire for differentiated thyroid cancer patient with radioactive iodine therapy (INQ-DTC).

The authors said the sample size was insufficient and may have reduced the trustworthiness of the factor analysis. There was no existing gold-standard questionnaire for differentiated thyroid cancer information needs, so criterion validity was not tested. The study was done only in mainland China, in thyroid surgery and nuclear medicine departments, so its results may not apply to other settings. Ten of 240 patients who met criteria refused, leaving 230 collected; the paper reported 95.83% effective recovery. Some items with double factor loading were kept because the researchers judged them important for home-based rehabilitation. The reported evidence is about questionnaire consistency and structure, not about improved patient education or care.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

Do not read the high reliability values as proof that the questionnaire improves care. It was developed and validated as a measurement tool, and the authors could not compare it with a gold standard because no appropriate existing scale was available.