An evaluation of two decision-making scales for children with life-limiting illnesses

Annually, about 500,000 children are coping with life-limiting illnesses. Many of these children could benefit from pediatric palliative care which provides supportive services. These services can also aid parents in decision making. In order to measure the effect of pediatric palliative care programs on decision making, a valid and reliable tool must be identified. This study aims to validate the psychometric properties of the Decisional Conflict Scale (DCS) and the COMRADE instruments for children with life-limiting illnesses.

Analyses were conducted using survey data collected from 266 parents whose Medicaid enrolled children have life-limiting illnesses.

Results of the analyses suggest that the DCS has better psychometric properties for measuring decision making within the population of children with life-limiting illnesses than the COMRADE.

Pediatric palliative care programs should use the DCS to measure the effectiveness of services aimed at supporting families with high levels of decisional conflict.