DEVELOPMENT OF CHILD-CENTERED DISEASE-SPECIFIC QUESTIONNAIRES FOR LIVING WITH ASTHMA

Contemporary developments in the management of chronic diseases such a s diabetes and asthma offer possibilities for optimal control, but pat ients increasingly need to take on responsibilities for self care. Hea lth professionals require comprehensive assessments of outcome that in clude data reflecting patients' perceptions of their disorder and its management. Disease-specific, patient-centered questionnaires for eval uation of adults' health-related quality of life are available for dia betes and asthma. Little progress is evident in relation to pediatric instruments. This paper describes the development of such an instrumen t for measurement of 8- to 11-year-olds' perceptions of their asthma-t he CAQ-B. Psychometric characteristics of the CAQ-B are reported: prin cipal axis factor analysis resulted in the derivation of four subscale s reflecting children's perceptions of both active and passive aspects of living with asthma, together with their perceptions of its severit y and any associated distress. Preliminary explorations with CAQ-B inc luded comparisons of parents', doctors', and children's ratings of sev erity; comparisons of data from asthmatic and nonasthmatic children; c omparisons of data from boys and