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PedsQL 4.0: reliability and validity of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory version 4.0 generic core scales in

J W Varni1, M Seid, P S Kurtin

  • 1Center for Child Health Outcomes, Children's Hospital and Health Center, San Diego, California, USA. jvarni@chsd.org

Medical Care
|July 27, 2001
PubMed

Insights

The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) 4.0 Generic Core Scales demonstrate reliable and valid measurement of health-related quality of life in children. These scales are suitable for diverse pediatric populations in various health settings.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health Outcomes Research
  • Psychometrics
  • Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) Measurement

Background:

  • The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) is a modular instrument for assessing HRQOL in children and adolescents aged 2-18.
  • The PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales comprise 23 items for self-report and parent proxy-report, designed for integration with disease-specific modules.
  • These scales are applicable to healthy children and adolescents, as well as those with acute or chronic health conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the measurement properties of the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales.
  • To assess the reliability and validity of the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales in a pediatric population.
  • To determine the applicability of the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales across different pediatric groups.

Main Methods:

  • Administered the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales (Physical, Emotional, Social, School) to 963 children and 1,629 parents.
  • Conducted item-level and scale-level measurement property analyses.
  • Employed known-groups method, correlations with morbidity indicators, and factor analysis to assess validity.

Main Results:

  • Achieved acceptable internal consistency reliability for Total Scale Score (child: 0.88, parent: 0.90) and summary scores.
  • Demonstrated validity through known-groups comparisons, correlations with illness burden, and factor analysis.
  • The PedsQL 4.0 effectively distinguished between healthy children and pediatric patients, aligning with theoretical scales.

Conclusions:

  • The PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales are reliable and valid instruments for measuring pediatric HRQOL.
  • These scales are suitable for use in clinical trials, research, clinical practice, and school health settings.
  • The PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales can be applied to healthy and pediatric patient populations in community settings.
Abstract

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