Development of a holistic communication score (HoCoS) in patients treated for oral or oropharyngeal cancer: Preliminary validation.
Mathieu Balaguer, Julien Pinquier, Jérôme Farinas and 1 others
PMID 36043497WHAT IT FOUND
A new 24-item self-report score captured communication problems after oral or oropharyngeal cancer.
In 25 patients it matched a separate communication-impact grouping, but it needs testing in more patients before routine use.
Key findings
01The HoCoS was built from 40 selected questionnaire items, with 24 items receiving non-zero weights in the final score.
02The score gave similar results when checked against predictions from the other patients.
03A separate grouping method identified three communication-impact classes that aligned with low, high, and intermediate HoCoS scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The score was built from 25 patients, which is a small sample for validation. The paper says external validation on a new sample is needed. Temporal reliability remains to be analysed. The score is only self-reported and does not include listener judgments. Some source questionnaires were validated in neurological populations rather than head and neck cancer.
Declared interests
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the HoCoS as a proven clinical outcome measure. It was built from 25 patients and needs external validation and temporal reliability testing before routine use.