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At what age can children reliably and validly self-report their health-related quality of life? An investigation using the PedsQL(tm) 4.0 Generic Core Scales Database

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) assessment has emerged as a vital health
outcome measure in clinical trials, healthcare services and evaluation, and population
health outcomes research. Reliability, validity, and parent-child agreement of the
PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales were examined using child self-report and parent
proxy-report age subgroup data on over 8,000 children ages 5-16 years from the PedsQL
4.0 Generic Core Scales DatabaseSM. The PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales
demonstrated good internal consistency reliability for children as young as 5 years;
healthy children across the age subgroups demonstrated a statistically significant
difference in HRQOL (better HRQOL) than children with a known chronic health
condition. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that a 5-factor model fit almost
identically across the age subgroups, providing further evidence that children as young
as 5 years are reliable and valid self-reporters of their HRQOL. Parent-child agreement
was in the moderate-to-good range, with parents reporting significantly higher PedsQL™ 4.0 scores across the age subgroups. In conclusion, the analyses support the
reliability and validity of child self-report in children as young as 5 years old.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1190
Date15 May 2009
CreatorsLimbers, Christine A.
ContributorsHeffer, Robert, Varni, James W.
Source SetsTexas A and M University
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeBook, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text
Formatelectronic, application/pdf, born digital

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