Development of the Satisfaction with Life Domains Scale for Cancer

This article describes the development of the Satisfaction with Life Domains Scale for Cancer (SLDS-C), a self report instrument for assessing the subjective quality of life of patients receiving aggressive cancer treatment. The SLDS-C asks respondents to rate their satisfaction with 17 areas of life using seven faces (three smiling, one neutral, and three frowning). The instrument has the following advantages: it is acceptable to patients, is easily understood, and allows different degrees of either positive or negative responses. The authors present evidence of the reliability and validity of the scale on the basis of the responses of 109 long-term cancer survivors who had received bone marrow transplants.