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The KIDSCREEN-27 quality of life measure for children and adolescents: psychometric results from a cross-cultural survey in 13 European countries

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Abstract

Objective

To assess the construct and criterion validity of the KIDSCREEN-27 health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaire, a shorter version of the KIDSCREEN-52.

Methods

The five-dimensional KIDSCREEN-27 was tested in a sample of 22,827. For criterion validity the correlation with and the percentage explained variance of the scores of the KIDSCREEN-52 instrument were examined. Construct validity was assessed by testing a priori expected associations with other generic HRQoL measures (YQOL-S, PedsQL, CHIP), indicators of physical and mental health, and socioeconomic status. Age and gender differences were investigated.

Results

Correlation with corresponding scales of the KIDSCREEN-52 ranged from r = 0.63 to r = 0.96, and r 2 ranged from 0.39 to 0.92. Correlations between other HRQoL questionnaires and KIDSCREEN-27 dimensions were moderate to high for those assessing similar constructs (r = 0.36 to 0.63). Statistically significant and sizeable differences between physically and mentally healthy and ill children were found in all KIDSCREEN-27 dimensions together with strong associations with psychosomatic complaints (r = −0.52). Most of the KIDSCREEN-27 dimensions showed a gradient according to socio-economic status, age and gender.

Conclusions

The KIDSCREEN-27 seems to be a valid measure of HRQoL in children and adolescents. Further research is needed to assess longitudinal validity and sensitivity to change.

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Abbreviations

CHIP-AE:

Child Health and Illness Profile-Adolescent Edition

CSHCN:

Children with Special Health Care Needs Screener

DIF:

Differential Item Functioning

FAS:

Family Affluence Scale

HBSC:

Health Behavior in School-aged Children

HRQoL:

Health-Related Quality of life

IRT:

Item Response Theory

OLS:

Ordinal Logistic Regression

PedsQoL:

Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory

SDQ:

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

WHO:

World Health Organization

YQOL-S:

Youth Quality of Life Instrument-Surveillance Version

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Acknowledgement

The KIDSCREEN project was financed by a grant from the European Commission (QLG-CT-2000-00751) within the EC 5th Framework-Programme “Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, WHO Collaborating Center for Child and Adolescent Health Promotion, University of Bielefeld, PB 10 01 31, 33501, Bielefeld, Germany

    Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer & Michael Erhart

  2. Department of Public Health, University Hospital of Marseille, Marseille, France

    Pascal Auquier

  3. Munich University of Applied Sciences, Munich, Germany

    Angela Gosch

  4. Agency for Quality, Research and Assessment in Health (AQuRAHealth), Barcelona, Spain

    Luis Rajmil

  5. TNO, Prevention and Health, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Jeanet Bruil

  6. Department of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh, UK

    Mick Power

  7. Ludwig Boltzmann-Institute for Sociology of Health and Medicine, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Wolfgang Duer

  8. Social and Behavioural Health Research, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Berne, Berne, Switzerland

    Bernhard Cloetta

  9. Prague Psychiatric Centre, Prague, Czech Republic

    Ladislav Czemy

  10. Department of Epidemiology, National Research Institute of Mother & Child, Warsaw, Poland

    Joanna Mazur

  11. Child Health Department, Health Promotion and Development Centre, Budapest, Hungary

    Agnes Czimbalmos

  12. Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, Athens, Greece

    Yannis Tountas

  13. Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

    Curt Hagquist

  14. Knowledge Officer Child Health HeBE, Programme of Action for Children, Dublin, Ireland

    Jean Kilroe

Authors
  1. Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer
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  2. Pascal Auquier
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  3. Michael Erhart
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  4. Angela Gosch
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  5. Luis Rajmil
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  6. Jeanet Bruil
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  7. Mick Power
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  8. Wolfgang Duer
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  9. Bernhard Cloetta
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  10. Ladislav Czemy
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  11. Joanna Mazur
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  12. Agnes Czimbalmos
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  13. Yannis Tountas
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  14. Curt Hagquist
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  15. Jean Kilroe
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Consortia

the European KIDSCREEN Group

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer.

Additional information

Members of the KIDSCREEN group are: Austria: Wolfgang Duer, Kristina Fuerth; Czech Republic: Ladislav Czerny; France: Pascal Auquier, Marie-Claude Simeoni, Stephane Robitail, Germany: Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer (international coordinator in chief), Michael Erhart, Jennifer Nickel, Bärbel-Maria Kurth, Angela Gosch, Ursula von Rüden; Greece: Yannis Tountas, Christina Dimitrakakis; Hungary: Agnes Czimbalmos, Anna Aszman; Ireland: Jean Kilroe, Eimear Flannery; The Netherlands: Jeanet Bruil, Symone Detmar, Eric Veripps; Poland: Joanna Mazur, Ewa Mierzejeswka; Spain: Luis Rajmil, Silvina Berra, Cristian Tebé, Michael Herdman, Jordi Alonso; Sweden: Curt Hagquist; Switzerland: Thomas Abel, Corinna Bisegger, Bernhard Cloetta, Claudia Farley; United Kingdom: Mick Power, Clare Atherton, Katy Phillips

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Ravens-Sieberer, U., Auquier, P., Erhart, M. et al. The KIDSCREEN-27 quality of life measure for children and adolescents: psychometric results from a cross-cultural survey in 13 European countries. Qual Life Res 16, 1347–1356 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-007-9240-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-007-9240-2

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