Measuring financial toxicity of cancer in the Italian health care system: Initial results of the patient reported outcome for fighting financial toxicity of cancer project (proFFiT) (original) (raw)

Background Financial toxicity in cancer patients has been initially reported in the United States and subsequently in other countries, including Italy, despite a health care system grounded on universal coverage. Considering that the way healthcare and welfare systems are shaped does impact on financial problems faced by cancer patients, we are developing an instrument for evaluating occurrence, gravity, and consequences of financial toxicity in Italy, and hopefully for fighting it. Methods Concept elicitation, item generation and qualitative analyses represented the initial tasks of the project. Literature review, focus groups with 34 cancer patients or caregivers in three regions located in North, Central, and South Italy, and semi-structured interviews with 97 oncologists were conducted for concept elicitation. A recursive process was used to identify themes in the data to inform the instrument until saturation was reached. Importance analysis questionnaires were administered to ...