Validation of the German Glasgow children’s benefit inventory.

Objective The aim of this study was to validate the German Glasgow Children’s Benefit Inventory (GCBI) in children with different surgical interventions. Material and methods The GCBI was translated by using accepted forward–backward translation techniques and mailed to 741 parents whose children underwent either an otorhinolaryngological ( n = 641) or an urological intervention ( n = 100). The assessment was performed in a retrospective manner at the Medical University Innsbruck, Austria between January and March 2006. An exploratory principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation using factor loadings of ≥0.40 to allocate items to a scale was performed. Frequencies, means and standard deviations were used to describe patient, clinical, sociodemographic, and scale characteristics. Results The questionnaire was completed and returned by 325 patients (43.9%). The GCBI showed a high internal consistency (α = 0.84). The four-factor solution, emotional, vitality, learning and physical health explained 55.7% of variance. Conclusion The German version of the GCBI was proven to be valid and reliable. It is suitable for subjective outcome analysis of different paediatric interventions from infants to adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]