Assessing health-related quality of life in chronically ill children with the German KINDL: first psychometric and content analytical results.
Health-related quality of life is increasingly being considered as a relevant end-point and outcome criterion in evaluating the effects of medical treatment. While in adults quality of life instruments have been developed in terms of generic as well as disease-specific measures, quality of life assessment and children is a relatively new area. The current paper describes the application of a German generic quality of life instrument for children (the KINDL) in a group of 45 chronically ill children suffering from diabetes or asthma in comparison to 45 age- and gender-matched healthy children. The results of psychometric testing in these populations showed that the German KINDL is a reliable, valid and practical instrument to assess the health-related quality of life of children which should be supplemented by disease-specific modules and needs to be further tested in clinical populations.
Ravens-Sieberer
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U
Department for Medical Psychology, University of Hamburg, Germany.
Bullinger
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M
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001249:Asthma / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012803:Sick Role