Abstract
BackgroundChildhood obesity is a growing public health concern in China. It not only compromises physical health, but also has negative impacts on psychosocial well-being. As obesity rates increase, finding out what the perceptions of Chinese youth are regarding their weight is important for intervention planning and evaluation. However, there is a paucity of available obesity-specific instruments for children and adolescents in China and youth weight-specific quality of life (QOL) has been little reported. This study aimed to evaluate the measurement properties of the Chinese version of the Youth Quality of Life Instrument – Weight Module (YQOL-W).MethodsThe Chinese version of the YQOL-W was administered to 840 youth aged 11–18 from nine schools. Measurement properties including measurement model, reliability, validity and burden were evaluated.ResultsConfirmatory factor analysis showed that a three-factor model had acceptable model fit. The instrument had robust internal consistency reliability with Cronbach's α ranging from 0.84 to 0.96 and acceptable test-retest reliability with the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) all higher than 0.7. The standard error of measurement (SEM) values for the Self, Social and Environment factors and total score were 10.352, 9.526, 12.086 and 8.425, respectively. The small real differences (SRDs) for the Self, Social and Environment factors and total score were 28.675, 26.387, 33.478, and 23.337, respectively. The Pearson's correlation coefficients between the YQOL-W and the PedsQL4.0 General Core Scales were stronger between comparable dimensions than those between less comparable dimensions, demonstrating convergent and discriminant evidence of construct validity. Significant differences were found in subscale and total scores across weight status, age and genders (P<0.01), supporting the known-groups validity of the instrument.ConclusionThe Chinese version of the YQOL-W has acceptable measurement properties and can be used to assess the weight-specific QOL of children and adolescents in China.
Highlights
Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern in China
Overweight and obese children are likely to remain obese as adults and are at increased risk for obesity comorbidities like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases at a younger age, leading to premature mortality and long-term morbidity [4,9,10]
The Chinese version of the YQOL-W has been primarily developed through linguistic validation and qualitative research phases [26], the purpose of this study was to evaluate the measurement properties of the Chinese version of the YQOL-W and examine whether it can be used to assess the weight-specific quality of life (QOL) of children and adolescents in China
Summary
Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern in China. It compromises physical health, and has negative impacts on psychosocial well-being. There is a paucity of available obesity-specific instruments for children and adolescents in China and youth weight-specific quality of life (QOL) has been little reported. According to data from the National Survey on Students’ Physical Fitness and Health in 2010, the prevalence of obesity was 13.33, 5.64, 7.83, 3.78 percent for urban boys, urban girls, rural boys and rural girls respectively. This is 1.94, 0.63, 2.76, 1.15 percent higher than the prevalence in 2005 respectively and comparable with developed countries in some subgroups such as urban and high-income groups [5]. One study reported that obese children and adolescents have a QOL similar to children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer [12]
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