title: Validation of a quality-of-life measure for deaf or hard of hearing youth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Quality-of-life (QOL) measures targeting youth with hearing loss are useful in population needs assessment, educational placement, and program design and evaluation. This study assesses the cross-sectional validity of the Youth Quality of Life Instrument-Deaf and Hard of Hearing Module (YQOL-DHH). STUDY DESIGN. Instrument development and cross-sectional survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Recruitment through schools, professional organizations, clinics, and programs for youth who are deaf or hard of hearing. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Thirty-five candidate items were administered to 230 adolescents aged 11 to 18 years: 49% female, 61% white, 11% mild hearing loss, 20% moderate/moderate-severe, 41% severe/profound, and 28% with cochlear implants. Participants completed individual or group-administered questionnaires by paper and pencil (58%), Web-based English (29%), American Sign Language (ASL) or Pidgin Signed English (PSE) (9%) on DVD, or interviewer-supervised ASL or PSE DVD (4%). The Children's Depression Inventory (CDI-S) was also completed. Factor structure, reliability, construct validity, and respondent burden were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Thirty-two items were retained in the final instrument covering 3 domains: self-acceptance/advocacy (14 items, Cronbach α = 0.84), perceived stigma (8 items, Cronbach α = 0.85), and participation (10 items, Cronbach α = 0.86). QOL was not significantly associated with hearing level. One-week test-retest coefficients were acceptable: self-acceptance/ advocacy (0.70), perceived stigma (0.78), and participation 0.92). As predicted, the total CDI-S score was associated in the appropriate direction (P < .0001) with all YQOL-DHH domains. Time to complete the paper-and-pencil version was 12 minutes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The YQOL-DHH shows good reliability and validity for assessing hearing-specific QOL in adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Services, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA. donald@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Donald L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Patrick
authors.forename: Todd C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Anne M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Skalicky
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schick
authors.forename: Tari D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Topolski
authors.forename: Poorna
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kushalnagar
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leng
authors.forename: Aprille M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: O'Neill-Kemp
authors.forename: Kathleen Sie
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Sie
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D002648:Child; D003054:Cochlear Implants / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003638:Deafness / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004519:Education, Special; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D008282:Mainstreaming, Education; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires