Development of a questionnaire to measure quality of life in adolescents with food allergy: the FAQL-teen.
BACKGROUND
Living with food allergies affects quality of life (QOL) and may be particularly problematic for teenagers.


OBJECTIVE
To develop a validated food allergy QOL assessment tool for US adolescents (FAQL-teen).


METHODS
Initial items were developed through expert opinion, literature review, and adolescent focus groups, resulting in an 88-question impact assessment questionnaire. This questionnaire was completed by 52 adolescents for effect scoring; final instrument questions were determined through analysis of effect scores. The final 17-item instrument was completed by 203 participants aged 13 to 19 years via an Internet link on the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network Web site and via paper surveys distributed at a Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network conference. Items were scored on a 7-point Likert scale: 0 corresponded to "not troubled/limited," 3 to "moderately troubled/limited," and 6 to "extremely troubled/limited."


RESULTS
Areas most troubling included limitations on social activities (score, 2.7), not being able to eat what others were eating (score, 2.7), and limited choice of restaurants (score, 3.9). Instrument validation steps showed strong internal validity (Cronbach α = .9). The instrument discriminated by disease severity: adolescents with a history of anaphylaxis had significantly lower QOL (higher scores) than did those without a history of anaphylaxis (P = .003).


CONCLUSIONS
While developing a food allergy QOL assessment tool for US adolescents (FAQL-teen), we identified multiple social and emotional concerns that could be targeted for adolescent counseling. This instrument is internally valid and has the ability to discriminate, making it a useful tool in adolescent food allergy studies.
Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, New York 10029, USA. elena.resnick@mssm.edu
Elena S
ES
Resnick
Mariah M
MM
Pieretti
Jennifer
J
Maloney
Sally
S
Noone
Anne
A
Muñoz-Furlong
Scott H
SH
Sicherer
D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult