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Reliability and validity of health status measurement by the TAPQOL

E M Bunge1, M-L Essink-Bot, M P H M Kobussen

  • 1Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands. e.bunge@erasmusmc.nl

Archives of Disease in Childhood
|March 23, 2005
PubMed

Insights

The TNO-AZL Preschool children Quality of Life (TAPQOL) questionnaire is a reliable tool for measuring health related quality of life (HRQoL) in young children. It demonstrates good feasibility and validity for both infants and toddlers.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health Outcomes
  • Quality of Life Measurement
  • Child Development Research

Background:

  • Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a crucial outcome in pediatric intervention evaluation.
  • The TNO-AZL Preschool children Quality of Life (TAPQOL) instrument assesses HRQoL in preschool-aged children.
  • TAPQOL is a generic measure with 12 scales covering physical, social, cognitive, and emotional functioning.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Evaluate the feasibility, score distribution, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and validity of TAPQOL scales.
  • Assess TAPQOL performance in preschool children aged 2-48 months.
  • Specifically evaluate feasibility, reliability, and validity for infants (2-12 months) and toddlers (12-48 months).

Main Methods:

  • A mailed questionnaire was administered to a random general population sample of 500 preschool children.
  • A subgroup of 159 parents completed a retest questionnaire after two weeks.
  • Data analysis focused on response rates, missing answers, scale effects, reliability (Cronbach's alpha, intra-class correlations), and validity.

Main Results:

  • High response rates (83% test, 75% retest) and few missing answers indicated good feasibility.
  • Nine scales demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha >0.70).
  • Test-retest reliability was generally adequate, with significant differences found between children with and without chronic conditions, supporting discriminative validity.

Conclusions:

  • The TAPQOL is a feasible instrument for measuring HRQoL in preschool children.
  • The majority of TAPQOL scales demonstrate acceptable reliability and discriminative validity for both infants and toddlers.
  • TAPQOL supports the evaluation of pediatric interventions by providing valuable HRQoL data.
Abstract

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