Evidence-based assessment of health-related quality of life and functional impairment in pediatric psychology.
OBJECTIVE
To provide an evidence-based review of measures of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and functional impairment, with a specific focus on their use in the field of pediatric psychology.


METHODS
As part of a larger survey of pediatric psychologists from the Society of Pediatric Psychology e-mail listserv (American Psychological Association, APA, Division 54), 16 measures were selected for this psychometric review. Measures that qualified for the review fell into one of the following three categories: (a) generic HRQOL scales, (b) disease-specific quality of life scales, and (c) functional impairment rating scales.


RESULTS
Psychometric characteristics (i.e., three types of reliability, two types of validity) were strong for the majority of measures reviewed, with 12 of the 16 measures meeting "well-established" evidence-based assessment criteria. Strengths and weaknesses of existing measures were noted.


CONCLUSIONS
Recommendations for future work in this area of assessment are presented, including suggestions that further validation and exploration of measure properties such as factor analysis and changes in HRQOL over time be conducted.
Palermo
Tonya M
TM
Oregon Health & Science University, Department of Anesthesiology, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road UHS-2, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
Long
Anna C
AC
Lewandowski
Amy S
AS
Drotar
Dennis
D
Quittner
Alexandra L
AL
Walker
Lynn S
LS
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires