Marie Claude Simeoni

Adaptación al español del cuestionario Vecú et Sante Perçue de l'Adolescent (VSP-A): una medida genérica de calidad de vida para adolescentes

BACKGROUND: Different measures of health related quality of life for use exclusively in children and adolescents have been developed over the last ten years. However, few instruments of this type have been adapted in Spain. The VSP-A is a generic health related quality of life measure for adolescents aged 11-17 developed in France. The objective of this study was to adapt the VSP-A into Spanish as a first step towards obtaining this questionnaire. METHODS: The version of the VSP-A including 39 questions was adapted following the forward-backward translation methodology, including two translations into Spanish, scoring of difficulty (0 min-10 max.) and classification of semantic and conceptual equivalence, two panel discussions with adolescents, as well as meetings of consensus with the original authors. Finally, a backward translation (translation back into the original language) was carried out into French, and the final pre-test version was administered in a pilot test. RESULTS: Most of the questions were classified as equivalent (24/39). Following the meetings with adolescents, changes were made in some questions. After the back-translation into French, three questions required some minor changes. CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish version of the VSP-A seems to be semantically and culturally equivalent to the original version and suitable for adolescents in Spain. The inclusion of easy statements in the original version, the comments of the adolescents and the involvement in the adaptation process of the original authors has offered the possibility of achieving a suitable pre-test version. The next phase of the study will involve the questionnaires reliability and validity testing. The VSP-A is expected to be useful for measuring the health-related quality of life in health surveys or as a screening tool in schools and primary care centers in Spain.

Mesure de la qualité de vie chez l'enfant atteint de paralysie cérébrale

Objectives. – To identify and describe available health-related quality of life (HRQL) markers in walking paediatric cerebral palsy (CP) patients. Methods. – A Medline literature review (1980–2007); content, application field, and metrologic properties of the scales were specified. Results. – Seventeen scales were identified and classified into three categories: scales developed for cerebral palsy patients or developed for neuromotor pathologies and used mostly in cerebral palsy patients; generic scales developed for the general population; generic scales developed for chronic, non-specific diseases. Discussion and Conclusion. – Documentation of metrologic properties in available HRQL scales is unequal. Information about ‘‘sensitivity to change’’ of the scales is necessary for their use in therapeutic outcome or cohort follow-up studies in CP patients. To include an analysis of the patient’s opinion is important, thus most of the questionnaires are based on the experimenter’s experience and synthesis of the literature. CP children’s auto-evaluation of their quality of life using a questionnaire developed based on the patients’ and families’ opinions, in association with a participation questionnaire, seems to be the most informative method to include in outcome studies. # 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Development of a growth hormone injection questionnaire for adolescents

We developed an instrument to assess feelings about self-injection of growth hormone (GH) in adolescents with growth disorders. Summary scores did not differ significantly by cohort, age, gender, or diagnosis. Adolescents who were more comfortable with GH injections had higher health-related quality of life, functional capacity, and self-control.