Paediatric health-related quality of life instrument for primary school children: cross-cultural validation.

Aim. This article is a report of a study to validate the Finnish version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory[TM] (PedsQL[TM]) for children aged 8-12 years. Background. Promoting and improving health and well-being of children are the global goals of primary-day health care. Sophisticated, internationally valid measurement tools are needed for planning, conducting and evaluating interventions to meet these challenges. The PedsQL[TM] is a promising, relatively new instrument developed in the United States to assess health-related quality of life (HRQL) in children and adolescents. Method. Content validity of the Finnish version of PedsQL[TM] 4.0 was assessed in 2004 during the translation process and tested by performing cognitive interviews with children aged 8-12 years (n = 7) and their parents (n = 5). Construct validity and reliability of the Finnish version of the PedsQL[TM] 4.0 were statistically tested on a sample of school children (n = 1097) and their parents (n = 999). Findings. Cognitive interviews confirmed that the concepts, questions and response alternatives of the Finnish version are equivalent to the original PedsQL[TM] 4.0. The Finnish version was easy to understand and complete. The construct validity was good. Cronbach's alpha values were excellent for the total scale score (Child- Self Report alpha = 0.91 and Parent-Proxy Report alpha = 0.88) and good for sub- and summary scales (Child-Self Report alpha = 0.73-0.89 and Parent-Proxy Report alpha = 0.69-0.86). Conclusion. Results support previous research on validity and reliability of the PedsQL[TM] 4.0. The Finnish version of the PedsQL[TM] 4.0 demonstrated good validity and reliability in primary school children. Future research is needed to examine, construct and predictive validity of the Finnish version of the Peds- QL[TM] 4.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]