Development of a digital Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire for systematic monitoring of disease activity in daily practice

• Published in: Rheumatology (Oxford, England) Vol. 48; no. 8; pp. 958 - 963
• Main Authors: Geerdink, Lianne M., Prince, Femke H. M., Looman, Caspar W. N., van Suijlekom-Smit, Lisette W. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01-08-2009
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Arthritis, Juvenile - diagnosis; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; Digitalization; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Health Status Indicators; Health-related quality of life; Humans; Inflammatory joint diseases; Juvenile idiopathic arthritis; Medical sciences; Rheumatology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Systematic monitoring; Human; Digitalization; Health-related quality of life; Systematic monitoring; Activity index; Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Rheumatology; Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; Inflammatory joint disease; Quality of life; Juvenile idiopathic arthritis; Chronic; Child; Health Assessment Questionnaire Stanford
• ISSN: 1462-0324; 1462-0332
• DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/kep135

Objective. To develop a reliable and user-friendly digital Childhood HAQ (CHAQ) to facilitate systematic monitoring of disease activity at the outpatient clinic in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients. Methods. The digital CHAQ was tested with patients who visited the outpatient paediatric rheumatology clinic of the Erasmus MC Sophia Children's Hospital. These patients completed in a randomized order the paper form and digital CHAQ while being observed. Validity was tested by comparing outcomes with the paper form CHAQ. User-friendliness was evaluated through a short questionnaire. Results. A digital CHAQ was developed and revised several times according to our observations. Outcome is automatically calculated and can be printed. Fifty-one patients completed both the digital and paper form CHAQ. Correlation coefficient between both outcomes of the CHAQ Disability Index was 0.974. No statistically significantly differences in median outcome were found in visual analogue scale (VAS) pain (25.6 vs 25.9 mm) and VAS well-being (20.1 vs 19.5 mm). Although the mean time (5.06 min) to complete the digital CHAQ was significantly longer than the mean time (3.75 min) to complete the paper form, the majority of patients (75%) preferred the digital version. User-friendliness received maximum positive score. Conclusion. We developed a reliable and user-friendly digital CHAQ, which can be easily and systematically completed during routine clinic visits. Such digitalization of questionnaires can be applied in any field to make systematic monitoring of disease activity in daily practice possible.