title: Validation of the Paediatric Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire (PFA-QL).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Paediatric Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire (PFA-QL) was the first tool to be developed for assessing health-related quality of life (QoL) in children with food allergy. It has been used in a number of published studies, but has not been validated.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the current study was to validate child (PFA-QL) and parent-proxy (PFA-QL-PF) versions of the scale in a specialist allergy clinic and in parents of children with food allergy.
  
  
  METHODS
  For the clinic sample, a generic QoL scale (PedsQL) and the PFA-QL were completed by 103 children (age 6-16 yrs) with peanut or tree nut allergy; test-retest reliability of the PFA-QL was tested in 50 stable patients. For the non-clinical sample, 756 parents of food allergic children completed the PFA-QL-PF, the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ-PF50), Food Allergy Quality of Life Parental Burden Scale (FAQL-PB) and a Food Allergy Impact Measure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The PFA-QL and PFA-QL-PF had good internal consistency (α's of 0.77-0.82), and there was moderate-to-good agreement between the generic- and disease-specific questionnaires. The PFA-QL was stable over time in the clinic sample, and in both samples, girls were reported to have poorer QoL than boys.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PFA-QL and PFA-QL-PF are reliable and valid scales for use in both clinical and non-clinical populations. Unlike other available tools, they were developed and validated in the UK and thus provide a culture-specific choice for research, clinical trials and clinical practice in the UK. Validation in other countries is now needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education Health and Sciences, University of Derby, Derby, UK. r.c.knibb@derby.ac.uk
authors.forename: Rebecca C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Knibb
authors.forename: Nur F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Petley
authors.forename: Amanda J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Cummings
authors.forename: Rosemary M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erlewyn-Lajeunesse
authors.forename: Jane S A
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lucas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology; D010367:Arachis / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D021184:Nut Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D010290:Parents; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens