English publication
Koopman,
H.M., Theunissen, N.C.M., Kamphuis, R.P., Zwinderman, A.H., Vogels, A.G.C.,
Verrips, G.H., Verloove-Vanhorick, S.P., & Wit, J.M. (2001). The
DUX-25: a questionnaire for measuring health-related quality of life of
children with a chronic disease. Submitted.
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Abstract
To meet the need for a research instrument to measure health-related quality
of life (HRQoL) of school-aged children (5-16), the DUX-25 (short form
of the DUCATQOL=Dutch Children AZL/TNO Questionnaire Quality Of Life)
was developed. The DUX-25 is a generic self-report HRQoL questionnaire.
HRQoL was defined as the affective evaluation of children of various aspects
of their daily functioning. The items of the DUS-25 (using a five-point
Likert scale) cover four domains: physical, emotional, social and home
functioning. In a three-item supplement, children were asked for a judgement
concerning their health, general well-being and appraisal of the questionnaire.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric performance
of the DUX-25 in healthy children and in children with various chronic
conditions. After a pilot study with 84 children with a chronic disease,
the psychometric characteristics and the feasibility of the DUX-25 were
examined in a reference sample of 1092 healthy children (8 to 12 years).
In further studies reliability and discriminative validity were evaluated
by comparing HRQoL of children with various chronic conditions to this
reference sample.
The questions appeared to be very easy to understand and were completed
within 5 minutes. The DUX-25 proved to be internally consistent and reproducible.
The four sub-scales (physical, emotional, social and home functioning)
showed acceptable reliability coefficients. Factor analysis supported
the preconceived scale structure. The instrument makes it possible to
measure the affective appraisal of daily functioning of children with
a chronic condition in a systematic, reliable and valid way. On average
children with a chronic condition reported a lower HRQoL than the reference
group of healthy children. Moreover the DUX-25 discriminated between the
effects of various chronic conditions on the HRQoL domains of the children.
Keywords
children; health related quality of life;
chronic disease; questionnaire;