PoCoG - Quality of Life Office

PoCoG Quality of Life Office

The Quality of Life (QOL) Office is funded by Cancer Australia as part of the Support for Clinical Trials Program. The QOL Office is Directed by the Cancer Australia Chair in Cancer Quality of Life (QOL Chair), Professor Madeleine King, and is based at PoCoG at the University of Sydney.

The QOL Office has the following mission and aims:

Mission Statement

The Quality of Life Office’s mission is to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of patients with cancer, their families and carers through clinical and implementation research, education and collaboration with health professionals, patients and carers.

Aims

The QOL Chair and QOL Office aim to provide access to high quality, expert advice and support services relating to the inclusion of QOL measures in cancer clinical trials to members of PoCoG and the other 12 Trials Groups:

The ultimate goal is to improve the methods, standards, productivity and outputs of the QOL research of the 13 Trials Groups, specifically:
to encourage world-class excellence in the measurement, analysis and interpretation of QOL endpoints in clinical trials initiated and/or conducted by the Trials Groups, through direct advice to investigators, training workshops, informative presentations at scientific meetings and collaborative research projects;
to encourage consistency within and among the Trials Groups in methods of assessment and analysis of QOL endpoints through training workshops, online resources and direct advice;
to develop QOL research capacity, through development of knowledge and skills in QOL measurement, analysis and interpretation among Trials Group members and the wider cancer research network, through: direct advice to investigators, research staff, Trials Group operations office staff; training workshops; informative presentations at scientific meetings; collaborative research projects; mentoring early career researchers and post-graduate research students; and development of QOL research networks.
to encourage collaboration among the Trials Group on QOL sub/studies;
to encourage publication of QOL research from the Trials Groups;
to develop awareness of the Trials Groups’ executives and operations offices of the QOL components of their research portfolios, and encourage effective management of each Trials Groups’ QOL research portfolio by regular review of progress in analysis and publication of QOL substudies.

For a summary of current QOL Office activities, please click HERE.

Consultation

Staff from the QOL Office are currently consulting with members of the Trials Groups to find out how best to support assessment of HRQOL in clinical trials.

We would also welcome advice from Australian researchers more generally with regard to:

Information and resources that the QOL Office might provide to support HRQOL research in cancer;
New questionnaires that may be suitable for assessing patient-reported outcomes in people affected by cancer that we can add to our database of measures;
Issues encountered in the collection, analysis and interpretation of HRQOL data in people affected by cancer that may be of interest to other researchers.

Advisory Service

Staff at the QOL Office are available to answer any questions that researchers may have concerning the assessment, analysis, interpretation or reporting of HRQOL in oncology. We'd also be delighted to discuss ideas for collaborative research projects that have a HRQOL component.

Please email us or phone 02 9114 1365.

- Psycho-oncology co-operative research group