Translation and validation of the Thai version of health-related quality of life measure for children with epilepsy (CHEQOL-25)

Purpose: This study aimed to translate and validate the Health-Related Quality of Life Measure for Children with Epilepsy (CHEQOL-25) into Thai version (TH-CHEQOL-25), and to evaluate factors affecting quality of life (QOL). Methods: After approval by the original developer, cross cultural adaptation process of CHEQOL-25 was performed including forward translation by two translators, reconciliation, backward translation, and final approval by the original creator. TH-CHEQOL-25 was completed by 161 children with epilepsy aged 6-15 years and their parents twice in 10-14 days to assess its reliability and validity. Content validity was measured by an index of item-objective congruence (IOC) and a content validity index (CVI). The face validity and construct validity were assessed. Results: Internal consistency reliability, evaluated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient showed the acceptable reliability in three subscales of child self-report and four subscales of parent-proxy response scale. Both versions had good test-retest reliability as ICC for all items ranged between 0.68-0.85. The correlations between child-report and parent-proxy were acceptable. Higher number of anticonvulsants was significantly negatively correlated with poor QOL. Conclusions: TH-CHEQOL-25 is a reliable and valid tool to assess health-related QOL in Thai children with epilepsy. The parent-proxy version can be used if children cannot report it themselves.