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The PedsQLTM 4.0 Generic Core Scales: Sensitivity, Responsiveness, and Impact on Clinical Decision-Making

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Abstract

The PedsQLTM 4.0 (Pediatric Quality of Life InventoryTM) Generic Core Scales are child self-report and parent proxy-report scales developed to measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children and adolescents ages 2–18. The PedsQLTM 4.0 Generic Core Scales consist of 23 items applicable for healthy school and community populations and pediatric populations with acute and chronic health conditions. The 4 PedsQLTM 4.0 Generic Core Scales (Physical, Emotional, Social, School) were administered to 209 children and 269 parents (289 subjects accrued overall) recruited from pediatric cardiology, orthopedics, and rheumatology clinics. Sensitivity, responsiveness, and the impact on clinical decision-making were determined. The PedsQLTM was differentially sensitive to increasing degrees of cardiac disease severity in the cardiology clinic setting and responsive to clinical change over time in the pediatric orthopedics clinic setting. In the pediatric rheumatology clinic setting, the PedsQLTM demonstrated an impact on clinical decision-making, resulting in subsequent increases in HRQOL.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Child Health Outcomes, Children's Hospital and Health Center, San Diego

    James W. Varni, Michael Seid & Tara Smith Knight

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine

    James W. Varni

  3. Children's Heart Institute, Children's Hospital and Health Center, San Diego

    Karen Uzark

  4. Division of Pediatric Rheumatology, Children's Hospital and Health Center, San Diego

    Ilona S. Szer

  5. Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine

    Ilona S. Szer

Authors
  1. James W. Varni
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  2. Michael Seid
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  3. Tara Smith Knight
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  4. Karen Uzark
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  5. Ilona S. Szer
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Correspondence to James W. Varni.

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Varni, J.W., Seid, M., Knight, T.S. et al. The PedsQLTM 4.0 Generic Core Scales: Sensitivity, Responsiveness, and Impact on Clinical Decision-Making. J Behav Med 25, 175–193 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014836921812

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