T.P. Nikitina, A.V. Kishtovich, Eu.I. Moiseenko, A.V. Sabirova

Pediatrics quality of life research: development of the Russian verson of Pedsql 4.0 Generic Core Scales for quality of life assessment in 8-12 years old children

Pediatric health-related quality of life (QoL) is increasingly important within the recent years. One of the major methodological issues to implement QoL research in Russia is to develop acceptable instruments for pediatric QoL assessment.
Before using QoL questionnaire in cross-cultural studies it is necessary to provide cultural adaptation and validation of a questionnaire. The goal of the present study was to develop the Russian version of PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales for QoL research in children aged 8-12 years old.
The study included translation procedure and cultural adaptation as well as validation procedure in direct compliance with international guidelines. The sample consisted of the following groups: 1) healthy children aged 8-12 years old (n=70), 2) children of the same age with asthma in acute period and with cancer before- or on-treatment (n=34), 3) children with cancer in remission (n=36); 4) parents of all above children (n=140).
The results of the study showed that the questionnaire is acceptable, feasible, reliable (coefficient Cronbach exceeded 0.9 for summary scales and was greater than 0.7 for other scales), valid (measured by of "known-group" method, analysis of relations between QoL scores and external criterions, analysis of correletions between the same scales of child and parent reports, comparative analysis of QoL scores between child and parent reports) and sensitive to clinical differences depending on disease' severity.
Thus, the Russian version of PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales (8-12) may be used for QoL assessment in children aged 8-12 years old in Russia.