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Purpose: To derive and evaluate a shorter self-report Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) legacy measure for use in research and clinical trials/care., Methods: Stepwise regression, factor analysis, and item scaling principles were used to derive and guide item selection, using data from a large general sample in the Netherlands (n = 933). Feasibility was assessed in a school sample (n = 114) and item internal consistency, discriminant validity, floor, and ceiling effects were evaluated using an external larger validation sample in the US (n = 1468). Reliabilities were estimated using Cronbach's alpha. Relative precision (RP), the ability to distinguish between clinical subgroups, was computed by comparing the proportion of variance explained by the short-form scales vs. respective full-length scales., Results: The CHQ-CF was reduced from 87 to 45 items. The median alpha coefficient was 0.89. Ninety-seven to 100% scaling successes for item discriminant validity were observed. Floor effects were not observed; some ceiling effects were detected. RP estimates ranged from 0.73 to 1.37., Conclusion: The CHQ-SF45 is reliable and valid and exceeds item level scaling criteria.

Purpose: To describe the development of pediatric family relationships measures, with versions for child self-report (8-17 years) and parent-report for children 5-17 years old. Measures were created for integration into the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS ® )., Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 10 experts, 24 children, and 8 parents were conducted to elicit and clarify essential elements of family relationships. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify item concepts representative of each element. The concepts were transformed into items that were iteratively revised based on cognitive interviews (n = 43 children) and item translatability review. Psychometric studies involving 2846 children and 2262 parents were conducted to further refine and validate the instruments., Results: Qualitative procedures supported the development of content valid Family Relationships item banks. Final child- and parent-report item banks each contain 47 items. Unidimensional item banks were calibrated using IRT-modeling to estimate item parameters representative of the US population and to enable computerized adaptive test administration. Four- and eight-item short forms were constructed for standard fixed format administration. All instruments have strong internal consistency, retest-reliability, and provide precise estimates of various levels of family relationship quality. Preliminary evidence of the instruments' validity was provided by known-group comparisons and convergence with legacy measures., Conclusion: The PROMIS pediatric Family Relationships measures can be applied in research focused on determinants, outcomes, and the protective effects of children's subjective family relationship experiences.

Objective: To evaluate feasibility, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent and discriminative validity of the Infant and Toddler Quality of Life Questionnaire (ITQOL) for parents of pre-school children with 12 scales (103-items) covering physical and psychosocial domains and impact of child health on parents, in comparison with the TNO-AZL Pre-school Children Quality of Life Questionnaire (TAPQOL)., Methods: Parents of children from a random general population sample (2 months-4 years old; n = 500) and of an outpatient clinic sample of children with respiratory disease (5 months-[Formula: see text] years old; n = 217) were mailed ITQOL and TAPQOL questionnaires; a retest was sent after two weeks., Results: Feasibility: The response was >or=80% with few missing and non-unique ITQOL-answers (<2%) in both study populations. Some ITQOL-scales (3-4 scales) showed a ceiling effect (>25% at maximum score). Internal consistency: All Cronbach's alpha >0.70. Test-retest Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) were moderate or adequate (>or=0.50; p < 0.01) for 10 ITQOL-scales., Validity: ITQOL-scales, with a few exceptions, correlated better with predefined parallel TAPQOL scales than with non-parallel scales. Five to eight ITQOL-scales discriminated clearly between children with few and with many parent-reported chronic conditions, between children with and without doctor-diagnosed respiratory disease and with a low and a high parent-reported medical consumption (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: This study supported the evidence that the ITQOL is a feasible instrument with adequate psychometric properties. The study provided reference ITQOL scores for gender/age subgroups. We recommend repeated evaluations of the ITQOL in varied populations, especially among very young children, including repeated assessments of test-retest characteristics and evaluations of responsiveness to change. We recommend developing and evaluating a shortened ITQOL version.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the German translation of the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ). Parents of two clinical samples were asked to rate the quality of life of their children using the German version of the CHQ. Item internal consistency (item-scale correlation) and internal consistency of scales were tested; quartiles and factor analysis were conducted. The results of the German clinical samples were compared with US clinical samples (t-test). The two clinical German sub-groups were compared using multivariate analysis (MANOVA). The psychometric testing of the CHQ showed good results. Internal consistency of the hypothesized scales were all higher than 0.70. The results of the factor analysis confirmed the results of the US norm sample: As expected, the subscales loaded on two factors explaining 57.4% of the total variance. The group comparison supported the discriminative properties of the CHQ. Preliminary psychometric findings support use of the German version of the CHQ. The next step will be the testing of healthy German samples and development of norm scores.