Översättning och testning av ett livskvalitetinstrument: : The PedsQL™ Family Impact Module

Abstract

The whole family is affected when a child is ill. Families facing the same illness stressors respond in different ways and have different needs forhealthcare. However, assessing a family’s needs is difficult. Few instruments for assessment of families’ health related quality of life, when achild in the family has a chronic illness, exist. The purpose of this study was to translate The PedsQL™ Family Impact Module from English intoSwedish and to test the instrument in clinical practise. This process was done in four steps. Two forwards, independently translations were com-pared and outlined in a first version. This version was backwards translated and compared with the original version and outlined in a secondversion. Five parents tested through face to face interviews the translated instrument. The questionnaire was field-tested in 103 parents to chil-dren with diabetes (aged 4–19), consecutively sampled when their child visited a children hospital in Sweden for their regular diabetes check.Internal consistency reliability alpha coefficient for the Swedish version of The PedsQL™ Family Impact Module (36 items) exceeded all scalesthe minimum reliability standard of 0.70. The instrument is suggested to be useful in quality improvement work and may be a help to identifyfamilies with chronic illness in need of support