The Finnish version of the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) and the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ)

We report herein the results of the cross-cul t u ral adap t ation and va l i d ation into the Finnish language of the parent’s version of t wo health re l ated quality of life instru ments. The Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) is a disease specific health instrument that measures functional ability in daily living activities in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) is a g e neric health instrument designed to captur e the physical and psychosocial well-being of children independently from the underlying disease. The Finnish CHAQ-CHQ were v a l i d ated with 3 fo r wa rd and 1 back wa rd translations. A total of 161 subjects wer e enrolled: 89 patients with JIA (9% systemic o n s e t , 44% polya rticular onset, 26% ex tended oligo a rticular subtype, and 21% p e rsistent oligo a rticular subtype) and 72 healthy children. The CHAQ clinically dis c ri m i n ated between healthy subjects and JIA patients, with the systemic, polyarticu lar and extended oligo a rticular subtypes having a higher degree of disability, pain, and a lower overall well-being when com pared to their healthy peers. Also the CHQ cl i n i c a l ly discri m i n ated between healthy subjects and JIA patients,with the systemic , p o lya rticular and extended oligo a rt i c u l a r subtypes having a lower physical and psy chosocial well-being when compared to their healthy peers. In conclusion the Finnish ve rsion of the CHAQ-CHQ is a relia ble and valid tool for the functional, physical and psychosocial assessment of children with JIA.