 |
|
|
 |
The Quality of My Life Questionnaire: The Minimal Clinically Important Difference for Pediatric Rheumatology Patients
GRACE W.K. GONG, NANCY L. YOUNG, HELEN DEMPSTER, MICHELLE POREPA, and BRIAN M. FELDMAN ABSTRACT. Objective. To determine parent-child agreement for the Quality of My Life (QoML) questionnaire. To establish construct validity of the QoML questionnaire. To determine the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for the Quality of Life (QOL) and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) scales. Methods. A total of 136 families of children with inflammatory arthritis were interviewed. The QoML questionnaire was completed for the child's current state of health, and under 2 hypothetical scenarios, where (1) there is a hypothetical small improvement, and (2) there is a hypothetical small deterioration in health. The differences between the original QOL and HRQOL scores and hypothetical improvement and deterioration scores, respectively, were calculated to give MCID scores. Results. In total, 131 families completed the questionnaires. Intraclass correlation coefficients for parent proxy report and patient self-report of the QOL and HRQOL were 0.63 and 0.40, respectively. Correlations of QOL with pain and disease severity were moderately negative (r = –0.55 and –0.56, respectively, p < 0.0001). Correlations of HRQOL with pain and disease severity were strongly negative (r = –0.66 and r = –0.68, respectively, p < 0.0001). The MCID for improvement on the QOL was 7 mm, and for the HRQOL 11 mm. The MCID for deterioration in QOL was –33 mm, and for HRQOL –38 mm. Conclusion. The QoML questionnaire demonstrated fair parent-child agreement and good convergent construct validity. MCID scores will enable clinicians to interpret QoML questionnaire results in a clinically meaningful way. (First Release Dec 15 2006; J Rheumatol 2007;34:581-7) Key Indexing Terms:
QUALITY OF MY LIFE QUESTIONNAIRE From the Division of Rheumatology, Population Health Sciences Program, Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children; and Department of Pediatrics, Department of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, and Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. G.W.K. Gong, Dip Child Health, MBBS, Division of Rheumatology, Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto; N.L. Young, PhD, Population Health Sciences Program, Hospital for Sick Children, Department of Pediatrics, Department of Health Policy Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto; H. Dempster, MD; M. Porepa, MD, Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto; B.M. Feldman, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Division of Rheumatology, Population Health Sciences Program, Hospital for Sick Children, Departments of Pediatrics, Health Policy Management and Evaluation, and Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto. Address reprint requests to Dr. B. Feldman, Division of Rheumatology, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Ave., Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada. E-mail: Brian.Feldman@sickkids.ca Accepted for publication October 13, 2006.
|
