Translation, adaptation and initial validation of Food Allergy Quality  of Life Questionnaire: child form in Greek

Abstract

The aim of the study is to determine the reliability and validity of the Greek version of the Food Allergy Quality of life Questionnaire Child Form (FAQLQ-CF). After linguistic validation, the Greek FAQLQ CF, Food Allergy Independent Measure (FAIM) and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL™) were used by a physician to interview chil dren diagnosed with food allergy and aged 8-12 via telephone. Cronbach’s alpha was used to evaluate reliability, and factor analysis to assess construct validity. The correlation between FAQLQ-CF and FAIM was moderate (rho=0.509, P<0.001) and internal consistency was strong (Cronbach’s alpha 0.905). FAQLQ-CF discriminated well each question’s contribution to children’s quality of life deterioration (32-80%), each child’s quality of life (17-89%), children differing in doing things with others (total score 3.55 vs 2.57, difference =0.98 > mini mal clinical importance difference = 0.5; P<0.001), but not children differing in reporting anaphylaxis. The total FAQLQ-CF score correlat ed with the total PedsQL™ score and with the score of one of PedsQL™ subscales, demonstrating convergent validity. Factor analy sis uncovered an underlying structure of four factors, explaining 50% of the variance. We can conclude that Greek FAQLQ-CF is a reliable, valid, discriminant tool for interviewing food allergic children aged 8 12, detecting those in need for immediate care.