Measurement properties of a multicultural weight-specific quality-of-life instrument for children and adolescents

Abstract

PurposeTo evaluate the psychometric properties of a new multicultural weight-specific quality-of-life (QOL) measure for children and adolescents–Youth Quality-of-Life Instrument–Weight module (YQOL-W).MethodsTwenty-five candidate items were administered to 443 children and adolescents between 11 and 18 years of age, of whom 53% were female, 33% were white, 30% were African American and 37% were Mexican American. Thirty-four percent had a healthy body mass index (BMI), 20% were overweight and 46% were obese.ResultsTwenty-one of the original 25 candidate items were retained in the final instrument. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) resulted in a one-factor (21 items, alpha = 0.97) and a three-factor model including a Self factor (4 items, alpha = 0.90), a Social factor (11 items, alpha = 0.95) and an Environment factor (5 items, alpha = 0.90). CFA found the three-factor model had better model fit (P < 0.05). Both the one-factor and three-factor scores were negatively correlated with BMI and the Children’s Depression Inventory and positively correlated with generic quality of life, all at the P < 0.05 level. The 1-week test–retest intra-class correlation coefficients were 0.73 for Social, 0.71 for Self, 0.73 Environment and 0.77 for the one-factor model.ConclusionsThe YQOL-W shows good reliability and validity for assessing weight-specific QOL in children and adolescents.

Weight loss and changes in generic and weight-specific quality of life in obese adolescents

“…Previously published in this Journal [10], the YQOL-W measures weight-specific QoL and provides a total and sub-domain scores for self (4 items), social (12 items), and environment (5 items). Using the same response scale as the YQOL-S, example items include ''I feel depressed about my weight'' (self), ''Because of my weight, I feel uncomfortable at social events'' (social), and ''Because of my weight, it is hard to find clothes that fit me'' (environment).…”

“…Previously, we reported on cross-sectional measurement properties of a new weight-specific quality of life measure for adolescents, the Youth Quality of Life-Weight module (YQOL-W) [1]. In this article, we investigate how weight loss is associated with change in weight-specific and generic quality of life and provide effect sizes for the YQOL-W for use in future studies.…”

“…As discussed in Morales et al [10], the YQOL-W adds to the literature in providing a measure built from the ground up using adolescent views to craft items [11]. To evaluate ability to detect change, we investigated the relative strengths of both a generic and weight-specific QoL measure to detect change associated with weight management and weight loss in generic and weight-specific QoL.…”

Perceived health status and cardiometabolic risk among a sample of youth in Mexico

“…All study participants were enrolled between March and November of 2008, and informed consent was obtained from each participant and a parent or guardian prior to their inclusion in the study. Specifics regarding the study design, methodology and baseline participant characteristics have been described elsewhere [19,33]. The Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) of all participating institutions approved the protocol and informed consent forms for this study (Seattle Children's Hospital IRB approval number: 11916; IMSS IRB approval number: R-2007-1701-13; UCLA IRB approval number: G06-09-094-01).…”

“…The YQOL-W has established measurement properties, including construct validity, internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and responsiveness to change. The measurement properties of the YQOL-W are described in more detail elsewhere [25,33]. All items were administered using an 11-point response scale ranging from 0-10.…”