Development and validation of the needs of children questionnaire: An instrument to measure children’s self‐reported needs in hospital

AIM: To develop and psychometrically test the needs of children questionnaire (NCQ), a new instrument to measure school‐aged children's self‐reported psychosocial physical and emotional needs in paediatric wards. DESIGN: This is an instrument development study based on recommendations for developing a reliable and valid questionnaire. METHOD: The NCQ was developed over three phases between February 2013–April 2017 and included item generation; content adequacy assessment; questionnaire administration; factor analysis; internal consistency assessment and construct validity. Psychometric properties were assessed after 193 school‐aged children completed the needs of children's questionnaire in four paediatric areas in Australia and New Zealand. RESULTS: The development and validation of the NCQ over two countries resulted in a 16‐item, four‐category tool to measure the self‐reported importance and fulfilment of school‐aged children's needs in hospital. Cronbach's alpha for the combined samples was 0.93. CONCLUSION: The NCQ bridges a gap to measure the level of importance and fulfilment of school‐aged children's self‐reported needs in hospital. Future testing and validation is needed in other paediatric areas and countries. IMPACT: The 16‐item NCQ is a valid measure to evaluate if the quality of care delivered and received in hospital is in line with what children self‐report as important and required and to date indicates good usability and utility. Child self‐reports are essential to inform healthcare delivery, policy, research and theory development from a child and family‐centred care lens that honours the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the best interests of the child.