The aim of the study was to determine the psychometric properties of the German version of the Cerebral Palsy Quality of Life Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (CP QOL-Child and -Teen). It is a condition-specific questionnaire with a self-report version, measuring well-being rather than ill-being, which differs from existing measurement methods. Fourteen children (9-12 years) and 64 caregivers (4-12 years) answered the child questionnaire. Twenty-one adolescents and 26 caregivers (all adolescents 13-18 years) replied to the teen version. Functioning was categorized by the Gross Motor Function Classification System. For CP QOL-child internal consistency (Cronbach's α) ranged from 0.58 to 0.88 and for CP QOL-Teen from 0.68 to 0.95. Test-retest reliability after 2 to 4 weeks ranged between 0.75 and 0.94 in children's version and 0.89 and 0.96 in teen's version. Correlation with well-established generic KIDSCREEN-10 questionnaire was moderate to strong. The German versions of CP QOL-Child and -Teen are appropriate tools for assessing the quality of life of children and adolescents with cerebral palsy in the German-speaking population.
Thieme. All rights reserved.