Translation and validation of the Norwegian version of the postoperative quality of recovery score QoR-15.

Background: As patient-centered care gains more attention, assessing the patient's perspective on their recovery has become increasingly important. In response to the need for a reliable and valid patient reported outcome measurement tool for major surgical resections in Norway. The Norwegian Registry for Gastrointestinal Surgery (NORGAST) initiated a project to translate and evaluate QoR-15's psychometric properties for patients going through general, gastrointestinal (GI), and hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) resectional surgery.

Methods: After a translation and adaption of the original version of QoR-15 into Norwegian, the QoR-15NO was psychometrically evaluated including a confirmatory factor analysis to test for unidimensionality, as well as tests for content validity, internal consistency, measurement error, construct validity, feasibility, and responsiveness. This process included cognitive interviews using a structured interview guide. Further, patients who underwent various types of GI/HPB surgery at five hospitals in different parts of Norway completed the QoR-15NO before surgery and on the first or second day after surgery. The impact of surgery was classified according to Surgical Outcome Risk Tool v2 (SORT), in extra major/complex, major, intermediate, and minor.

Results: This study included 324 patients with 83% return rate with both pre- and postoperative forms. There were negative correlations between duration of surgery and postoperative QoR-15 score and the difference between post- and preoperative score (change score). Individuals who had gone through surgery with major impact had a lower postoperative mean QoR-15 score (97) than their counterparts who had experienced either medium (QoR-15: 110) or minor (QoR15: 119) impact surgery. Cronbach's alpha (0.88) and Omega Alpha Total (ωt = 0.90) indicate that the scale has good to very good internal consistency. Test-retest reliability was measured by Intra-class Correlation Coefficient to ICC = 0.70. Confirmatory factor analyses supported that a one-factor model with correlated residuals had a good fit to data.

Conclusion: This study supports QoR-15NO as a valid, essentially unidimensional, feasible, and responsive instrument among patients undergoing general, GI, and HPB resectional surgery in Norway. The total QoR-15NO score provides important information that can be used in an everyday clinical setting and integrated into NORGAST.