Abstract

Objective: The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™) is a modular instrument designed to measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children and adolescents ages 2-18 years. The PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales are child self-report and parent proxy-report scales developed as the generic core measure to be integrated with the PedsQL™ disease-specific modules. The electronic version of the PedsQL™ 4.0 (ePedsQL™) was designed for Internet administration.

Research Design and Methods: Utilizing a randomized cross-over design, the PedsQL™ Scales were administered to 92 pediatric patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes and 93 parents in electronic and paper formats.

Results: Missing values (0.76% child report, 0.37% parent report), internal consistency reliability (Total Scale Score α = 0.90 child report, 0.92 parent report) and mean scores (Total Scale Score M = 78.41 child report, 76.19 parent report) were equivalent between the electronic and paper-and-pencil modes of administration. The ePedsQL™ distinguished between healthy children and children with diabetes.

Conclusions: The ePedsQL™ Internet mode of administration demonstrated equivalent measurement properties to the well-established PedsQL™ paper-and-pencil mode of administration.