Abstract
BackgroundCerebral palsy (CP) patients have motor limitations that can affect functionality and abilities for activities of daily living (ADL). Health related quality of life and health status instruments validated to be applied to these patients do not directly approach the concepts of functionality or ADL. The Child Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) seems to be a good instrument to approach this dimension, but it was never used for CP patients. The purpose of the study was to verify the psychometric properties of CHAQ applied to children and adolescents with CP.MethodsParents or guardians of children and adolescents with CP, aged 5 to 18 years, answered the CHAQ. A healthy group of 314 children and adolescents was recruited during the validation of the CHAQ Brazilian-version. Data quality, reliability and validity were studied. The motor function was evaluated by the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM).ResultsNinety-six parents/guardians answered the questionnaire. The age of the patients ranged from 5 to 17.9 years (average: 9.3). The rate of missing data was low (<9.3%). The floor effect was observed in two domains, being higher only in the visual analogue scales (≤ 35.5%). The ceiling effect was significant in all domains and particularly high in patients with quadriplegia (81.8 to 90.9%) and extrapyramidal (45.4 to 91.0%). The Cronbach alpha coefficient ranged from 0.85 to 0.95. The validity was appropriate: for the discriminant validity the correlation of the disability index with the visual analogue scales was not significant; for the convergent validity CHAQ disability index had a strong correlation with the GMFM (0.77); for the divergent validity there was no correlation between GMFM and the pain and overall evaluation scales; for the criterion validity GMFM as well as CHAQ detected differences in the scores among the clinical type of CP (p < 0.01); for the construct validity, the patients' disability index score (mean:2.16; SD:0.72) was higher than the healthy group (mean:0.12; SD:0.23)(p < 0.01).ConclusionCHAQ reliability and validity were adequate to this population. However, further studies are necessary to verify the influence of the ceiling effect on the responsiveness of the instrument.
Highlights
Cerebral palsy (CP) patients have motor limitations that can affect functionality and abilities for activities of daily living (ADL)
The motor function was evaluated according to the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) and the patients were grouped into five levels [25]
Instruments Child Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) CHAQ is a specific instrument initially described as a health related quality of life (HRQOL) evaluation questionnaire to be used in children and adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, from the perspective of the parent or patient
Summary
Cerebral palsy (CP) patients have motor limitations that can affect functionality and abilities for activities of daily living (ADL). The need to know the effects of the disease on health conditions and well-being through the eyes of the individual or his/her caretaker has motivated countless efforts to develop more useful instruments to evaluate the impact experienced by patient and their families. These instruments must have appropriate psychometric properties so as to guarantee reliability, validity and sensitivity to changes, and should be easy to apply and to interpret [2,3]. Epilepsy was diagnosed based on parent report and confirmed by the medical record
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
