Summary Quality of life for patients with head and neck is now concerned worldwide, but the available QOL instruments are seldom and lack of Chinese culture. Therefore, this paper aimed to develop and validate a QOL instrument for patients with head and neck cancer, QLICP-HN. Using the programmed decision methods and the theory in instrument development, the QLICP-HN was developed and evaluated based on the data measuring QOL three times before and after treatment from a sample of 133 in-patients of head and neck cancer. The psychometric properties of the scale were evaluated by indicators such as validity and reliability coefficients: Cronbach α, Pearson r, standardized response mean. The statistical methods included Pearson correlation, multi-trait scaling analysis, factor analysis, cluster analysis and paired t test. The internal consistency α for the overall scale and domains is above 0.70 with the exception of the social function (0.65) and common symptom and side effect (0.66); the test–retest reliability for each domain and the overall scale is higher than 0.80; most correlation coefficients between each item and its domain are above 0.40; the scores differences between pre-treatment and post-treatment have statistical significance for three domains of physical, psychological, the specific, and the overall instrument, with higher SRM of 0.33, 0.59, 0.44 and 0.53. The QLICP-HN is of good validity, reliability and responsiveness, and can be used to assess quality of life for patients with head and neck cancer in China.
