PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale in pediatric liver transplant recipients: feasibility, reliability, and validity

Abstract

The PedsQL™ (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™) is a modular instrument designed to measure health-related quality of life and disease-specific symptoms. The PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale was developed as a brief generic symptom-specific instrument to measure cognitive functioning. The objective of the present study was to determine the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale in pediatric liver transplant recipients. The 6-item PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale and the PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales were completed by pediatric liver transplant recipients ages 8-18years (n=215) and parents of pediatric liver transplant recipients ages 2-18years (n=502). Both patient self-report and parent proxy-report were available for 212 cases. The 72-item Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), a widely validated measure of executive functioning, was completed by 100 parents and 56 teachers on a subset of patients. The PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale demonstrated minimal missing responses (0.0%, child report, 0.67%, parent report), achieved excellent reliability (α=0.88 child report, 0.94 parent report), distinguished between pediatric patients with liver transplants and healthy children supporting discriminant validity, and was significantly correlated with the PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales and the BRIEF supporting construct and concurrent validity, respectively. Pediatric liver transplants recipients experienced cognitive functioning comparable to long-term pediatric cancer survivors. The results demonstrate the feasibility, reliability, discriminant, construct, and concurrent validity of the PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale in pediatric liver transplant recipients.