Health-related Quality of Life of Thai children with HIV infection: a comparison of the Thai Quality of Life in Children (ThQLC) with the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ version 4.0 (PedsQL™ 4.0) Generic Core Scales

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Thai Quality of Life in Children (ThQLC) and compare it with the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL™ 4.0) in a sample of children receiving long-term HIV care in Thailand. The ThQLC and the PedsQL™ 4.0 were administered to 292 children with HIV infection aged 8–16 years. Clinical parameters such as the current viral load, CD4 percent, and clinical staging were obtained by medical record review. Three out of five ThQLC scales and three out of four PedsQL™ 4.0 scales had acceptable internal consistency reliability (i.e., Cronbach’s alpha >0.70). Cronbach’s alpha values of each scale ranged from 0.52 to 0.75 and 0.57 to 0.75 for the ThQLC and the PedsQL™ 4.0, respectively. Corresponding scales (physical functioning, emotional well-being, social functioning, and school functioning) of the ThQLC and the PedsQL™ 4.0 correlated substantially with one another (r = 0.47, 0.67, 0.59 and 0.56, respectively). Both ThQLC and PedsQL™ 4.0 overall scores significantly correlated with the child’s self-rated severity of the illness (r = −0.23 for the ThQLC and −0.28 for the PedsQL™ 4.0) and the caregiver’s rated overall quality of life (r = 0.07 for the ThQLC and 0.13 for the PedsQL™ 4.0). The overall score of the ThQLC correlated with clinical and immunologic categories of the United State-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US-CDC) classification system (r = −0.12), while the overall score of the PedsQL™ 4.0 significantly correlated with the number of disability days (r = −0.12) and CD4 percent (r = −0.15). However, the overall score from both instruments were not significantly different by clinical stages of HIV disease. A multitrait-multimethod analysis results demonstrated that the average convergent validity and off-diagonal correlations were 0.58 and 0.45, respectively. Discriminant validity was partially supported with 62% of validity diagonal correlations exceeding correlations between different domains (discriminant validity successes). The Hays-Hayashi MTMM quality index was 0.61. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that the ThQLC physical functioning scale provided unique information in predicting child self-rated severity of the illness and overall quality of life beyond that explained by the PedsQL™ 4.0 in Thai children with HIV infection. We found evidence in support of the reliability and validity of the ThQLC and the PedsQL™ 4.0 for measuring the health-related quality of life of Thai children with HIV infection

Emotion Regulation and Behavioral Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A University Hospital Based Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: The objectives of this study were to investigate behavioral problems and emotion regulation in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with and without psychiatric comorbidities, and to assess the correlation between emotion regulation and behavioral problems. Materials and Methods: Participants included 65 children with ASD (ASD group) and 65 children with ASD and psychiatric comorbidities (ASD+CPD group), aged 6 to 12, and their caretakers. Emotion regulation was assessed by the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC). Behavioral problems were assessed by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results: An independent sample T-test revealed that the ASD+CPD group had poorer emotion regulation, greater emotion lability/negativity, and a higher total difficulty score when compared to the ASD group. The Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient indicated that emotion regulation (r = -0.47, p<0.05) and lability/negativity (r = 0.65, p<0.05) correlated with the total difficulties score of the SDQ. A multiple regression analysis revealed that lower emotion regulation and higher emotion lability/negativity predicted an increase in behavioral problems (R2 = 0.44, p<0.05). Conclusions: We found that children with ASD and psychiatric comorbidities had poorer emotion regulation and more behavioral problems than those without comorbidities, and that poorer emotion regulation predicts behavioral problems. These results indicate that children with ASD should be assessed for psychiatric comorbidities, particularly those who have emotional dysregulation and behavioral problems