Introduction: The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility, reliability and validity of the Iranian version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ 4.0 Short Form 15 Generic Core Scales (PedsQL™ 4.0 SF15) in a sample of Iranian schoolchildren and children with chronic health conditions.
Methods: A total of 1236 schoolchildren and 1183 parents of schoolchildren participated, and 52 children with chronic health conditions and their parents were recruited from an outpatient clinic. Feasibility, internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, known-groups discriminant validity and construct validity of the PedsQL™ 4.0 SF15 were determined.
Results: The Iranian version of PedsQL™ 4.0 SF15 evidenced minimal missing responses for child self-report and parent proxy-report (0.4% and 0.6%, respectively), generally demonstrated no significant floor or ceiling effects, and achieved acceptable internal consistency reliability for the Total Scale Score (α = 0.82 child self-report, 0.84 parent proxy-report) and acceptable test-retest reliability. Schoolchildren and their parents reported significantly higher PedsQL™ 4.0 SF15 scores than paediatric patients with chronic health conditions. Child self-report and parent proxy-report showed poor to good agreement. A four-factor model was confirmed among child self-report and parent proxy-report in the confirmatory factor analyses.
Conclusion: This study supports the feasibility, reliability and validity of the Iranian version of the PedsQL™ 4.0 SF15 among Iranian children and their parents.