The role of parental health and distress in assessing children's health status.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to examine the contributions of parents' health and distress to parent's and children's assessments of children's health. METHODS: We used baseline data from a longitudinal study of 364 children (ages 4-12) about to undergo surgery and their parents in a Southern California pediatric hospital. We used the 20-item child self-reported CHRIS 2.0 general health and the parallel parent-reported measure of the child's health, along with a measure of parental distress about the child's health were administered in the perioperative period. Other measures included parents' physical and mental health, quality of life, distress over their child's health, and number and extent of other health problems of the child and siblings. RESULTS: On average, parents' reports about the child were consistently and statistically significantly higher than children's self-reports across all sub-dimensions of the CHRIS 2.0 measure. Parents' personal health was positively associated with their reports of the child's health. More distressed parents were closer to the child's self-reports, but reported poorer personal health. CONCLUSION: Parent-child differences in this study of young children's health were related to parental distress. Exploring the nature of the gap between parents and children in assessments of children's health could improve effective clinical management for the child and enhance family-centered pediatric care. Future studies are needed to assess the generalizability of CHRIS 2.0 to other health settings and conditions and to other racial/ethnic groups.

Development and initial validation of self-report measures of general health, preoperative anxiety, and postoperative pain in young children using computer-administered animation.

BACKGROUND: For young children, existing measures of children's health-related quality of life must be parent-reported or interviewer-administered for those who cannot read or complete measures independently. Parents' and childrens' reports about the child's health have been shown to disagree. AIMS: (a) To test the reliability and validity of an animated, computer-administered Child Health Rating Inventories (CHRIS2.0) among children aged 4-12 undergoing surgery; and (b) to develop and test two CHRIS measures of preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain management. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of a diverse group of 542 children aged 4-12 undergoing surgery. We compared the CHRIS measures to Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), the Functional Disabilities Inventory (FDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for children (STAI-CH), and the Parent Postoperative Pain Measure (PPPM). RESULTS: Factor analyses supported the construct validity of the 12-item general physical health and the 8-item mental health CHRIS scales, as well as a composite 20-item scale, and the CHRIS preoperative anxiety and postoperative pain scales. Internal consistency reliability for all CHRIS scales exceeded the standard for group comparisons (Cronbach's α ≥0.70). The CHRIS general health composite was significantly correlated with composite PedsQL and FDI (r = 0.28, P < .001 and r = 0.43, P < .001, respectively). The CHRIS peri-operative anxiety measure was significantly correlated with the STAI-CH (r = 0.44, P < .001), as was the CHRIS postoperative pain scale with the PPPM (r = 0.52, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The CHRIS measures were reliable and valid in this diverse sample of young children (4-12). Because CHRIS measures are self-administered, scored in real time, and run on multiple different platforms, this approach provides a feasible method for the collection of health-related quality of life in young children and those with limited literacy. Our data indicate that this approach is psychometrically sound and has the potential for adding the child's voice to pediatric outcomes.