English publication
Theunissen,
N.C.M., Vogels, A.G.C., Koopman, H.M., Verrips, G.H., Zwinderman, A.H.,
Verloove-Vanhorick, S.P., & Wit, J.M. (1998). The proxy problem:
child report versus parent report in health-related quality of life research. Quality of Life Research, 7, 387-397.
Abstract
This study evaluates the agreement between child and parent reports on
childrens Health related Quality of Life (HrQOL) in a representative
sample of 1105 Dutch children (age 8 to 11 years old). Both children and
their parents completed a 56 item questionnaire (TACQOL). The questionnaire
contains seven eight-item scales: physical complaints, motor functioning,
autonomy, cognitive functioning, social functioning, positive and negative
emotions. The Pearson correlations between child and parent reports were
between 0.44 to 0.61 (p<0.001). Intraclass correlations were between
0.39 to 0.62. Children on average reported significantly lower HrQOL than
parents on the physical complaints, motor functioning, autonomy, cognitive
functioning, and positive emotions scales (paired t-test: p<0.05).
Agreement on all scales was related to the height of the HrQOL scores
and to some background variables (gender, age, temporary illness, visiting
a physician). According to Multitrait-Multimethod analyses, both child
and parent reports on HrQOL proved to be valid.
Keywords
health related quality of life; health
status; proxy; child report; parent report;