31turkish

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

H. Ozdogan¹, N. Ruperto², O. Kasapçopur¹, A. Bakkaloglu³, N. Arisoy¹, S. Ozen³, Ü. Ugurlu¹, E. Unsal⁴, M. Melikoglu¹, for the Paediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organisation (PRINTO)

¹Cerrahpasa Tip Fakültesi, Istanbul, Turkey; ²Laboratorio di Informatica Medica, IRCCS S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy; ³Hacettepe University Children's Hospital, Ankara, Turkey; ⁴Dokuz Eylül University Medical Faculty, Balcova, Izmir.

ABSTRACT
We report herein the results of the cross-cultural adaptation and validation into the Turkish 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 Turkish CHAQ CHQ were fully validated with 3 forward and 3 backward translations. A total of 145 subjects were enrolled: 85 patients with JIA (35% systemic onset, 41% polyarticular onset, and 24% persistent oligoarticular subtype) and 60 healthy children. The CHAQ clinically discriminated between healthy subjects and JIA patients, with the systemic, and polyarticular 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 onset, and polyarticular onset having a lower physical and psychosocial well-being when compared to their healthy peers.
In conclusion the Turkish version of the CHAQ-CHQ is a reliable, and valid tool for the functional, physical and psychosocial assessment of children with JIA.

Key words:
Turkish Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ), Turkish 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), and by IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo (Pavia, Italy).

Please address correspondence and requests for reprints to either: Huri Ozdogan, MD, Cerrahpasa Tip Fakültesi, Iç Hastaliklari ABD, Romatoloji BD, Kasaneler sk. 2/5 Erenköy, 81060 Istanbul, Turkey.
E-mail: nozdogan@superonline.com
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/