Validity and reliability of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory for 2- to 4-year-old and 5- to 7-year-old Turkish children

Abstract

In this study, we attempted to examine the reliability and validity of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) 4.0) for 2- to 4-year-old and 5- to 7-year-old Turkish children. Parents of 223 children in the 2- to 4-year-old age group and 198 children in the 5- to 7-year-old age group and their parents were enrolled in the study. Children were grouped as healthy, those with acute health conditions, and those with chronic health conditions. Internal consistency reliability alpha coefficients (Cronbach's coefficient alpha) of the PedsQL 4.0's total scale score for the parent proxy reports of 2- to 4-year-old children and 5- to 7-year-old age groups and for the child' s self-report of the 5- to 7-year-old age group were 0.85, 0.86, and 0.80, respectively. Most subscale scores were acceptable for group comparisons. For all items in the child self-report and parent proxy report, item internal consistency was found to be more than 0, 40. Children with chronic health conditions scored less than healthy children and the children with acute health conditions in parent proxy reports. However, in the child self-reports of the 5- to 7-year-old group, there was no significant statistical difference in the scores between the groups. Generally, there was a low-medium inverse correlation between the total scale scores (and most subscale scores) and the indicators of morbidity and illness burden. The correlation between the child self-report and the parent proxy reports were significant direct but low correlations. No significant difference was observed in subscale scores between genders except in the school functioning scores in parent reports of healthy children 2-4 years of age and the acute health condition group of 5-7 years of age. School functioning scores of boys were significantly lower than for girls. The parent proxy reports of the Turkish translation of the PedsQL 4.0 may be used in research for group comparisons for 2- to 7-year-old Turkish children.