The reliability of the Health Related Quality Of Life questionnaire PedsQL 3.0 Diabetes Module™ for Swedish children with type 1 diabetes.

AIM: The overall aim of the study was to assess reliability and accomplish a limited validation of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 3.0 Diabetes Module Scales (PedsQL 3.0), Swedish version in a sample of Swedish children diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (T1DM). A secondary aim was to assess whether the children's Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) was associated with children's gender and age and whether the child self- and parent proxy reports were consistent.
METHODS: One hundred and thirty families from four diabetes centres participated in this study. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales (PedsQL 4.0) and the PedsQL 3.0 were administered to 108 children (aged 5-18 years) with T1DM and 130 parents (of children with T1DM aged 2-18 years).
RESULTS: The internal consistency of the PedsQL 3.0, Swedish version, reached or exceeded Cronbach's alpha values of 0.70 for both child self- and proxy reports- and parent proxy-reports. The PedsQL 4.0 and PedsQL 3.0 were highly correlated (r = 0.76), indicating convergent validity. The parents reported lower diabetes-specific HRQOL than the children themselves (p < 0.01). The girls in the study reported lower psychological functioning and treatment adherence compared with the boys (p < 0.05). The oldest children (between 13 and 18 years of age) reported significantly lower diabetes-specific HRQOL, as compared with younger children (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: PedsQL 3.0 Diabetes Module can be used as a valuable tool for measuring diabetes-specific HRQOL in child populations, both in research and in clinical practice.