A Brief Screening Tool for Assessment of Financial Toxicity

Objectives: To explore the utility of brief financial screening items to facilitate the implementation of routine financial toxicity screening.

Sample & Setting: 50 women with breast cancer completed a one-time survey that included the Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST): A FACIT Measure of Financial Toxicity, a visual analog scale, and a brief sociodemographic questionnaire.

Methods & Variables: Survey responses were examined to assess the psychometric properties of individual COST items and the visual analog scale by calculating Cronbach’s alpha and Pearson’s correlation coefficients.

Results: The mean COST was 21.4, and 27 respondents met criteria for financial toxicity (a COST lower than 22). As expected, all items correlated strongly to the overall COST, but four items (items 3, 6, 8, and 10) performed strongest (r > 0.8).

Implications for Nursing: This study provides evidence for individual COST items to be used as brief screening items. Future research should test the utility of these items in larger sample sizes with a more diverse representation of patients by age, race, ethnicity, and tumor type and stage.