title: Reliability and validity of the Children's Health Survey for Asthma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Describe the psychometric properties of the Children's Health Survey for Asthma (CHSA)- a condition-specific, self-report, functional health measure for parents of children 5 to 12 years of age with chronic asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from two cross-sectional and one longitudinal study were used to assess internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, and validity of the CHSA. Over 275 parents and guardians of children with asthma completed the CHSA in one of three studies. The combined samples included a heterogenous mix of respondents by child age and race/ethnicity and parental marital and socioeconomic status. Five domain scores were computed: physical health, activity (child), activity (family), emotional health (child), and emotional health (family). Raw scale scores were transformed from 0 to 100 with higher scores indicating better or more positive outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Across the three samples, mean scale scores ranged from a low of 61.5 (emotional health of the child) to a high of 86.1 (activity [family]). Internal consistency reliability for each of the scales was high (Cronbach's alpha =.81-. 92), and test-retest reliability (correlation between forms) ranged from.62 to.86. Significant differences in mean scores for four of five scales were noted between those with low versus moderate to high recent symptom activity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In three tests, the CHSA displays strong reliability and validity. Descriptive statistics demonstrate a range of scale scores. Internal consistency is good to excellent and short-term test-retest reliability is good for each of the five scales. Construct validity is demonstrated by the ability of CHSA to distinguish levels of disease severity, defined by symptom activity.
authors.affiliation: Center for Child Health Research, American Academy of Pediatrics, Elk Grove Village, Illinois IL 60007-1098, USA. lasmussen@aap.org.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Asmussen
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: E N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fagan
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Weiss
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000145:classification / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires