RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Health related quality of life in disorders of defecation: the Defecation Disorder List
JF Archives of Disease in Childhood
JO Arch Dis Child
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
SP 1124
OP 1127
DO 10.1136/adc.2003.037465
VO 89
IS 12
A1 W P Voskuijl
A1 H J van der Zaag-Loonen
A1 I J G Ketel
A1 M A Grootenhuis
A1 B H F Derkx
A1 M A Benninga
YR 2004
UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/89/12/1124.abstract
AB Background: Constipation and encopresis frequently cause problems with respect to emotional wellbeing, and social and family life. Instruments to measure Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in these disorders are not available. Methods: A disease specific HRQoL instrument, the “Defecation Disorder List” (DDL) for children with constipation or functional non-retentive faecal soiling (FNRFS) was developed using accepted guidelines. For each phase of the process, different samples of patients were used. The final phase of development included 27 children. Reliability was assessed in two ways: internal consistency of domains with Cronbach’s alpha, and test-retest reliability with intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). To assess validity, comparable items and domains were correlated with Tacqol, a generic HRQoL instrument for children (TNO-AZL). Results: In the final phase of the development, 27 children completed the instrument. It consisted of 37 items in four domains. The response rate was 96%. Reliability was good for all domains, with Cronbach’s alpha values ranging from 0.61 to 0.76. Measures of test-retest stability were good for all four domains with ICCs ranging from 0.82 to 0.92. Validity based on comparison with the Tacqol instrument was moderate. Conclusion: The DDL is promising as a measure of HRQoL in childhood defecation disorders.