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Abstract
Pediatric patients' self-report of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has emerged
as an important patient-based health outcome. A practical, validated generic measure
of HRQOL facilitates assessing risk, tracking health status, and measuring treatment
outcomes in pediatric populations.
The PedsQL is a brief, standardized, generic assessment instrument that systematically
assesses patients' and parents' perceptions of HRQOL in pediatric patients with chronic
health conditions using pediatric cancer as an exemplary model. The PedsQL is based
on a modular approach to measuring HRQOL and consists of a 15-item core measure of
global HRQOL and eight supplemental modules assessing specific symptom or treatment
domains. The PedsQL was empirically derived from data collected from 291 pediatric
cancer patients and their parents at various stages of treatment.
Both reliability and validity were determined. Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the
core measure (alpha = .83 for patient and alpha = .86 for parent) were acceptable
for group comparisons. Alphas for the patient self-report modules generally ranged
from .70 to .89. Discriminant or clinical validity, using the known-groups approach,
was demonstrated for patients on- versus off-treatments. The 11 scales showed small-to-medium
positive intercorrelations, supporting the multidimensional measurement model. Further
construct validity was demonstrated via a multimethod-multitrait matrix using standardized
psychosocial questionnaires.
The results support the PedsQL as a reliable and valid measure of HRQOL. The PedsQL
core and modular design makes it flexible enough to be used in a variety of research
and clinical applications for pediatric chronic health conditions.