title: PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale in pediatric liver transplant recipients: feasibility, reliability, and validity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The PedsQL™ (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™) is a modular instrument designed to measure health-related quality of life and disease-specific symptoms. The PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale was developed as a brief generic symptom-specific instrument to measure cognitive functioning. The objective of the present study was to determine the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale in pediatric liver transplant recipients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The 6-item PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale and the PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales were completed by pediatric liver transplant recipients ages 8-18 years (n = 215) and parents of pediatric liver transplant recipients ages 2-18 years (n = 502). Both patient self-report and parent proxy-report were available for 212 cases. The 72-item Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), a widely validated measure of executive functioning, was completed by 100 parents and 56 teachers on a subset of patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale demonstrated minimal missing responses (0.0%, child report, 0.67%, parent report), achieved excellent reliability (α = 0.88 child report, 0.94 parent report), distinguished between pediatric patients with liver transplants and healthy children supporting discriminant validity, and was significantly correlated with the PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales and the BRIEF supporting construct and concurrent validity, respectively. Pediatric liver transplants recipients experienced cognitive functioning comparable to long-term pediatric cancer survivors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results demonstrate the feasibility, reliability, discriminant, construct, and concurrent validity of the PedsQL™ Cognitive Functioning Scale in pediatric liver transplant recipients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, 3137 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-3137, USA. jvarni@arch.tamu.edu
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Varni
authors.forename: Christine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Limbers
authors.forename: Lisa G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Sorensen
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Neighbors
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martz
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Bucuvalas
authors.forename: Estella M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Alonso
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D056344:Executive Function; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report; D017741:Survivors; D054928:Validation Studies as Topic