The Finnish version of the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) and the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ)

• Published in: Clinical and experimental rheumatology Vol. 19; no. 4 Suppl 23; pp. S55 - S59
• Main Authors: Pelkonen, P, Ruperto, N, Honkanen, V, Hannula, S, Savolainen, A, Lahdenne, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Italy 01-07-2001
• Subjects: Adolescent; Arthritis, Juvenile - diagnosis; Child; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Cultural Characteristics; Disability Evaluation; Female; Finland; Health Status; Humans; Language; Male; Psychometrics; Quality of Life; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires; Finland
• ISSN: 0392-856X

We report herein the results of the cross-cultural adaptation and validation into the Finnish language of the parent's version of two health related quality of life instruments. The Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) is a disease specific health instrument that measures functional ability in daily living activities in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) is a generic health instrument designed to capture the physical and psychosocial well-being of children independently from the underlying disease. The Finnish CHAQ-CHQ were validated with 3 forward and 1 backward translations. A total of 161 subjects were enrolled: 89 patients with JIA (9% systemic onset, 44% polyarticular onset, 26% extended oligoarticular subtype, and 21% persistent oligoarticular subtype) and 72 healthy children. The CHAQ clinically discriminated between healthy subjects and JIA patients, with the systemic, polyarticular and extended oligoarticular subtypes having a higher degree of disability, pain, and a lower overall well-being when compared to their healthy peers. Also the CHQ clinically discriminated between healthy subjects and JIA patients, with the systemic, polyarticular and extended oligoarticular subtypes having a lower physical and psychosocial well-being when compared to their healthy peers. In conclusion the Finnish version of the CHAQ-CHQ is a reliable and valid tool for the functional, physical and psychosocial assessment of children with JIA.