Construct validation of Urdu version of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory: evidence from Pakistan

Purpose Mental health problems during the initial years of life are precursors of mental disorders in later life, as well as poor quality of life. However, understanding and assessing the quality of life among children is very challenging and requires appropriate assessment measures. Against this backdrop, this study aims to establish the evidence for the construct and convergent validity of Urdu version of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) in Pakistani children. Design/methodology/approach This study has a cross-sectional study design in which a sample of 291 primary school children (53. 3% male children and 44. 7% female children) were enrolled from 6 primary schools located in Rawalpindi District in 2021 through random sampling. Children’s ages ranged between 9 and 13 years (M = 10. 51 years; SD = 0. 73). Urdu translated version PedsQL, Rosenburg self-esteem scale (RSES), strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ), difficulty subscale and socio-demographic form were administered in a group setting. Findings Confirmatory factor analysis showed model provided a better fit similar to three factors: social/school functioning; psychological functioning; and physical functioning with good alpha reliability for full scale as well for subscales (r = 0. 87, r = 0. 75, r = 0. 77 and r = 0. 73), respectively. Pearson’s correlation of the translated version with SDQdifficulties (r = −0. 33; p < 0. 01) and RSES (r = −016; p < 0. 01) depicted solid discriminant validity (r = −0. 33; p < 0. 01) and RSES showed good convergent validity (r = −0. 16; p < 0. 01). Hence; PedsQL, Urdu proved to be a reliable, valid and efficient tool for the assessment of quality of life among Pakistani children, and its three-factor structure model suggested previously for Pakistani children was confirmed. Originality/value This study is original work by the researcher as part of their PhD project.