Acceptability of the health‐related quality of life instrument EQ‐5D‐Y‐5L among patients in child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient care

AIM: The generic EuroQol 5 Dimensions Youth 5 Level (EQ‐5D‐Y‐5L) measures health‐related quality of life among children from 8 years. Respondents report their health on five dimensions with five severity levels and rate their overall health on a visual analogue scale (EQ VAS). The aim of the study was to explore acceptability of the EQ‐5D‐Y‐5L instrument among patients in child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient care. METHODS: A convenience sample of patients within a psychiatric inpatient care clinic in Region Stockholm, Sweden, was used. Follow‐up questions were answered directly after filling in the EQ‐5D‐Y‐5L. Conventional qualitative content analysis was chosen to analyse the open‐ended questions on how they perceived answering the instrument. RESULTS: In total, 52 patients (83% girls), mean age 15.4 years (range 13‐17), were included. Three themes emerged: generic content of the EQ‐5D‐Y‐5L descriptive system; design and wording of the EQ‐5D‐Y‐5L descriptive system and the EQ VAS; self‐reporting health with the EQ‐5D‐Y‐5L descriptive system and the EQ VAS. CONCLUSION: The inclusion of physical health dimensions was perceived as positive, but some patients considered the descriptive system too generic. The results indicate that these patients in general could self‐report their health in a meaningful way with the EQ‐5D‐Y‐5L instrument.