Creating and Validating a Patient-reported Outcome Instrument to Assess Symptom Experience Related to Surgical Wounds in Women With Vulvar Neoplasms - A Mixed Methods Study

Post-surgery complications in women with vulvar neoplasms (vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia and vulvar cancer) are still high and an instrument assessing patients self-reported post-vulval surgery symptom experiences is missing. The study aims to develop and validate a postoperative instrument to assess symptom experiences in women with vulvar neoplasms. In this mixed-method project 20 patients were interviewed, a WOMAN-PRO instrument was developed and content validity was tested by 6 experts and 10 patients. The instrument's psychometric properties and the prevalence of symptoms will be examined in a cross-sectional study in the University Hospitals Munich, Freiburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Zurich, Basel, Berne, and the Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen (N=150). The goal of this project is that symptom assessment becomes a standard component of clinical practice (to promote the early detection and treatment of symptoms) and research.