Quality of life of children and their caregivers during an AOM episode: development and use of a telephone questionnaire
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RESEARCH
Open Access
Quality of life of children and their caregivers during an AOM episode: development and use of a telephone questionnaire Eve Dubé1,2,3*, Philippe De Wals1,2,3, Manale Ouakki1,2
Abstract Background: The negative consequences of acute otitis media (AOM) on the quality of life (QOL) of children and their families need to be measured to assess benefits of preventive interventions. Methods: A new questionnaire was specifically designed for use in telephone surveys. A random sample of Canadian families was selected using random-digit dialling. Caregivers of children 6-59 months of age who experienced at least one AOM episode during the last 12 months were interviewed. Multidimensional severity and global QOL scores were measured both for affected children and their caregivers. Internal consistency of scores was assessed using standard tests. Results: Of the 502 eligible caregivers who completed the survey, 161 (32%) reported at least one AOM episode during the last 12 months and these cases were included in the analysis. Average severity was 2.6 for children and 2.4 for caregivers on a 1 to 4 scale (maximum severity). Cronbach alpha values were 0.78 and 0.81 for the severity score of children and caregivers respectively. Average QOL was 3.4 for children and 3.5 for caregivers on a 1 to 5 scale (best QOL). There was moderate to high correlation between severity and QOL scores, and between these scores and duration of AOM episodes. Conclusions: The questionnaire was easy to use during telephone interviews and results suggest good reliability and validity of the different scores to measure AOM severity and QOL of children and their caregivers during an AOM episode.
Introduction Acute otitis media (AOM) is one of the most common diseases of childhood and a leading cause of healthcare visits and antibiotic prescriptions [1]. Recurrent AOM is frequent and ≥ 3 episodes by one year of age have been reported in 10 to 19% of children [2]. In average, a child will experience four AOM episodes during the first 6 years of life [3]. AOM also disrupts daily activities of caregivers and negatively affects the lives of all household members [4,5]. Quality of life (QOL) has recently become accepted as a standard for overall policy evaluation of interventions [6]. QOL as a global and multidimensional concept, incorporates aspects of physical, functional, psychological, social, and economic well* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Quebec National Institute of Public Health, (D’Estimauville), Quebec City, (G1E 7G9), Canada
being [7]. In the context of health care, QOL is a subjective outcome that reflects the patient’s perception of his or her health status [8]. Because it is impossible to directly assess the feelings of young children, parental reports are used as a surrogate measure of their child’s QOL [9]. Few instruments have been specifically designed to assess the impact of AOM on the QOL of children and their caregivers. Those available were used in face-to-face or postal surveys regarding recurrent o
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