Validation of Pediatric Quality of Life Questionnaire (PedsQL) in Kashan city

Promotion and improvement of children''s health is a part of the global obje-ctives of primary health care. This study inve-stigated psychometric characteristics of quality of life in elementary students of Kashan city in 2011.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 400 elementary stud-ents (Grades 3 to 5) who were selected through random sampling. Content validity of the Per-sian version of the PedsQL 4. 0 was checked and tested through the process of translating interview with children 9-12 years (N = 30) and their parents (N = 30) in the primary schools of the Kashan city. Construct validity and reliability of the PedsQL on the sample of elementary children in Kashan (N = 400) and their parents (N = 400) were tested. Criterion-related validity (concurrent) was estimated through investigating the correlation between child self-report of quality of life and parent proxy-report of quality of life along with demographic variables. Data were analyzed by using the SPSS V. 18، and LISREL8. 8 soft-wares.

Totally، content validity of PedsQL was 0. 84 and of the four subscales، physical، emotional، social، and school performances w-ere 0. 80، 0. 86، 0. 83، and 0. 88، respectively. Construct validity was good. (RMSEA = 0. 047، NFI=0. 99، GFI =1. 00، P =0. 15، df = 2، χ2 =3. 77). All inquiries showed a moderate to higher than 0. 40 loading over for four factors، physical، emotional، social، and school perfo-rmances. The correlation coefficient between the PedsQL and its four subscales were ace-ptable (r>0. 7). The PedsQL had a good internal consistency (α =0. 82). Cronbach alpha coefficients range of different categories of the mentioned tool was from 0. 65 to 0. 77. There was a significant relationship between PedsQL of children and parents and، also the demo-graphic characteristics of the population under study. Discusion &

The findings indic-ated the suitability of psychometric properties of the Persian version of PedsQL to measure the quality of life in elementary students. Sch-ool administrators and health system profess-sionals can use this study to design guidelines for creating a healthy environment and devel-opment of the programs of health-based edu-cation in order to improve the quality of life and health of students