The Chinese version of the Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy Questionnaire-16-C (QOLCE-16-C): translation, validity, and reliability

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological diseases that adversely impact the quality of life of patients and their families. The “Quality of Life of Childhood Epilepsy Questionnaire” (hereinafter referred to as “QOLCE-16”) is a 16-item measure that was designed to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among children with epilepsy. The purpose of the study was to translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the QOLCE-16. METHODS: The 10 steps of Principles of Good Practices for translation and cultural adaptation of measures were adopted to translate the QOLCE-16 into Chinese. After that, item analysis, floor effect and ceiling effect, internal consistency, test–retest reliabilities, content validity and construct validity were conducted to test its applicability in children with epilepsy in China. A total of 435 native Chinese-speaking parents with children who had epilepsy from one children’s hospital were invited to take part in the study, including a cognitive interview sample of 5 and a validation sample of 430. RESULTS: A total of 414 objects were enrolled in our study for psychometric testing. The results of the item analysis revealed QOLCE-16-C to have good discrimination, the floor effect and ceiling effect were 0.2% and 1.0% respectively, and each item was significantly related to the total scale (P < 0.001). The Cronbach’s α value was 0.938 and the test–retest reliability was 0.724. For validity, results showed that the QOLCE-16-C had good content validity. Exploratory factor analysis indicated it was reasonable that the QOLCE-16-C consists of four dimensions after rotation. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated good construct validity (χ(2)/df = 1.698, GFI = 0.913, CFI = 0.974, RMSEA = 0.058). CONCLUSION: The Chinese version of QOLCE-16-C appears to be a culturally appropriate, valid and reliable tool to assess the health-related quality of life of children with epilepsy in China.