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The Belgian-Flemish version of the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) and the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ)

R. Joos¹, N. Ruperto², C. Wouters³, K. Boven⁴, H. Raat⁵, J.M. Landgraf⁶, E.M. Veys¹, for the Paediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organisation (PRINTO)

¹Universitair Ziekenhuis Gent, Gent, Belgium; ²Laboratorio di Informatica Medica, IRCCS S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy; ³University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium; ⁴University Hospital Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; ⁵Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands; ⁶HealthAct, Boston, MA, USA.

ABSTRACT
We report herein the results of the cross-cultural adaptation and validation into the Belgian-Flemish 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 Belgian-Flemish CHAQ was fully validated with 3 forward and 3 backward translations, while the Belgian-Flemish CHQ was equal to the Dutch version and revalidated in this study. The French version of both CHAQ and CHQ was exactly the same as the one used in France. A total of 199 subjects were enrolled: 53 patients with JIA (11% systemic onset, 40% polyarticular onset, 13% extended oligoarticular subtype, and 36% persistent oligoarticular subtype) and 146 healthy children. The CHAQ clinically discriminated between healthy subjects and JIA patients, with the polyarticular onset, 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 polyarticular onset and extended oligoarticular subtypes having a lower physical and psychosocial well-being when compared to their healthy peers. In conclusion the Belgian-Flemish version of the CHAQ-CHQ is a reliable, and valid tool for the functional, physical and psychosocial assessment of children with JIA.

Key words
Belgian-Flemish Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ), Belgian-Flemish Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ), cross cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation, health related quality of life, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), healthy children.

Supported by a grant from the European Union (BMH4-983531 CA), by IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo (Pavia, Italy) and by Telecom Italy.

Please address correspondence and requests for reprints to either: Rik Joos, MD, Universitair Ziekenhuis Gent, Centrum Voor Kinderreumatologie, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
E-mail: joos.rik@pi.be or frieda.garrels@rug.ac.be,
or PRINTO, IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo, Pediatria Generale e Reumatologia, Piazzale Golgi, 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
E-mail: nruperto@smatteo.pv.it
WWW: http://www.medit.it/printo/