Validation of a Disease-Specific Measure of Health-Related Quality of Life for Children with Cystic Fibrosis

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Cystic Fibrosis Questionnaire (CFQ)-Child version, a disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measure for children with cystic fibrosis (CF). METHOD: The CFQ was administered to 84 children with CF, ranging in age from 7 to 13 years, and their parents. RESULTS: Multitrait analyses indicated that a majority of items on the CFQ-Child correlated more highly with their hypothesized scale than a competing scale. Internal consistency coefficients were acceptable for all scales (Cronbach's alpha =.60-.76), with the exception of treatment burden (Cronbach's alpha =.44). Results also suggested strong convergence between child and parent-proxy reports on several scales of the CFQ. CONCLUSION: Results demonstrated that the CFQ-Child is a reliable and valid measure of HRQOL for children with CF.