Validating measures of pediatric health status, functional status, and health-related quality of life: key methodological challenges and strategies.
OBJECTIVE
To describe key methodological challenges in the validation of measures of pediatric health status, functional status, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and ways to address them.


METHODS
Validation strategies of measures of pediatric health status, functional status, and HRQOL were reviewed.


RESULTS
Three key challenges were identified: 1) clarifying and testing measurement models; 2) measuring responsiveness to clinically meaningful change; and 3) considering data from multiple respondents.


CONCLUSIONS
Research strategies to enhance validity of measures include specifying intended validity and measurement models, documenting sensitivity of measures to clinically meaningful change, and considering data from multiple informants.
Drotar
Dennis
D
Department of Pediatrics, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA. dxd3@po.cwru.edu
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005544:Forecasting; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012106:Research / Q000639:trends; D012107:Research Design