23norwegian

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

A.M. Selvaag¹, N. Ruperto², L. Asplin¹, M. Rygg³, J.M. Landgraf⁴, Ø. Forre¹, B. Flatø¹, for the Paediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organisation (PRINTO)

¹The National Hospital Department of Rheumatology, Oslo, Norway; ²Laboratorio di Informatica Medica, IRCCS S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy; ³University Hospital of Trondheim, Trondheim, Norway; ⁴HealthAct, Boston, MA, USA.

ABSTRACT
We report herein the results of the cross-cultural adaptation and validation into the Norwegian 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 Norwegian CHAQ and CHQ have already been published and therefore they were fully revalidated in this study. A total of 148 subjects were enrolled: 88 patients with JIA (6% systemic onset, 45% polyarticular onset, 10% extended oligoarticular subtype, and 39% persistent oligoarticular subtype) and 60 healthy children. The CHAQ clinically discriminated between patients with various JIA subtypes, with the systemic, polyarticular and extended oligoarticular subtypes having a higher degree of disability, pain, and a lower overall well-being when compared to those with persistent oligoarticular arthritis. Also the CHQ clinically discriminated between healthy subjects and JIA patients, with the systemic onset, polyarticular onset and extended oligoarticular subtypes having a lower physical and psychosocial well-being when compared to their healthy peers.
In conclusion the Norwegian version of the CHAQ-CHQ is a reliable, and valid tool for the functional, physical and psychosocial assessment of children with JIA.

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

This study was supported by grants from the Norwegian Rheumatism Association, the Grethe Harbitz Foundation, the Norwegian Women's Public Health Association, and the European Union (BMH4-983531 CA), and by IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo (Pavia, Italy) and Telecom Italy.

Please address correspondence and requests for reprints to either: Berit Flatø, MD, Centre for rheumatic diseases, The National Hospital, NO-0027 Oslo, Norway.
E-mail: berit.flato@rikshospitalet.
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/