Author(s)

Ibtissam Sabbah, Hala Sabbah, Sanaa Sabbah, Hussein Akoum, Nabil Droubi, Mariette Mercier

Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Franche Comte Univerity, Besan?on, France.
Doctoral School of Literature, Humanities & Social Sciences – Lebanese University, and Institute of Social Science Branch 5- Lebanese university.
Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration, Branch 5, Lebanese University, Nabatieh, Lebanon.
Faculty of Public Health, Branch 5, Lebanese University , Saida, Lebanon.

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is recognized as an important health outcome measurement for pediatric patients. HRQOL in children are needed to gain a better understanding of the impact of public policies, interventions, therapies, and the prediction of health and social care need. In view of the lack of reliable HRQOL instruments for children in Arabic, the present study aims to translate the PedsQLTM4.0 self-report and proxy-report for young children (ages 5-7 years), and Children (ages 8-12), evaluate psychometric properties of the Arabic Lebanon version; and to evaluate HRQOL of children in rural and urban areas in Lebanon. Methods: PedsQLTM4.0 was translated and adapted into Arabic using the standard approach provided by Varni JW. The Arabic version was administered to a representative sample of 368 children aged 5-12 years and their parents. The psychometric properties were then evaluated. Results: The rate of missing data for self-report and proxy-report was very low (0.51% and 0.46% of items). All child self-report, and parent proxy-report subscales exceeded the minimum reliability standard of 0.70 for alpha coefficient, except emotional subscale of young child self-report and proxy-report, and, the social subscale of child self-report (alphas ranging from 0.60 to 0.66). Factor analysis yielded patterns of factor correlation comparable to the original version. The emotional functioning of children is low, where most children feel afraid, sad, and angry. Children resident in rural areas had higher social scores than those in urban areas. The HRQOL of girls is higher than boys; Children undergoing treatment for cancer rated their HRQOL as poorer in all dimensions. Conclusions: The results support the validity of the PedsQLTM4.0 self-report and proxy-report Arabic version. Habitat has a minor influence on HRQOL of children. Further psychometric evaluation in a larger sample of children, in other departments of Lebanon is recommended to provide firmer conclusions.

PedsQL^TM4.0; Health Related Quality of Life; Urban; Cross-Sectional Study; Arabic Lebanon; Young Child

Sabbah, I. , Sabbah, H. , Sabbah, S. , Akoum, H. , Droubi, N. & Mercier, M. (2012). Measurement Properties of the Arabic Lebanon Version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales for Young Child (5 - 7 years), and Child Aged 8 - 12 Years: Quality of Life of in Urban and Rural Children in Lebanon. Creative Education, 3, 959-970. doi: 10.4236/ce.2012.326146.