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Health-related quality of life in young adults in education, employment, or training: development of the Japanese version of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) Generic Core Scales Young Adult Version

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to develop a Japanese version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) Generic Core Scales Young Adult Version (PedsQL-YA-J) and determine the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the scales.

Methods

Translation equivalence and content validity were verified using back-translation and cognitive debriefing tests. A total of 428 young adults recruited from one university, two vocational schools, or five companies completed questionnaires. We determined questionnaire feasibility, internal consistency, and test–retest reliability; checked concurrent validity against the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D); determined convergent and discriminant validity with the Medical Outcome Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36); described known-groups validity with regard to subjective symptoms, illness or injury requiring regular medical visits, and depression; and verified factorial validity.

Results

All scales were internally consistent (Cronbach’s coefficient alpha = 0.77–0.86); test–retest reliability was acceptable (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.57–0.69); and all scales were concurrently valid with depression (Pearson’s correlation coefficient = 0.43–0.57). The scales convergent and discriminant validity with the SF-36 and CES-D were acceptable. Evaluation of known-groups validity confirmed that the Physical Functioning scale was sensitive for subjective symptoms, the Emotional Functioning scale for depression, and the Work/School Functioning scale for illness or injury requiring regular medical visits. Exploratory factor analysis found a six-factor structure consistent with the assumed structure (cumulative proportion = 57.0 %).

Conclusions

The PedsQL-YA-J is suitable for assessing health-related quality of life in young adults in education, employment, or training, and for clinical trials and epidemiological research.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Society for the Promotion of Science (Kakenhi Grant Number 24792488) 2012-2014. We thank all participants and our two collaborators: Dr. James W. Varni and Dr. Kyoko Kobayashi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Nursing, School of Health Sciences and Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Mei Kaneko, Iori Sato, Takafumi Soejima & Kiyoko Kamibeppu

  2. Center for Quality of Life Research, c/o Department of Family Nursing, School of Health Sciences and Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Mei Kaneko, Iori Sato, Takafumi Soejima & Kiyoko Kamibeppu

Authors
  1. Mei Kaneko
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  2. Iori Sato
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  3. Takafumi Soejima
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  4. Kiyoko Kamibeppu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kiyoko Kamibeppu.

Additional information

Mei Kaneko and Iori Sato have contributed equally to this work.

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Kaneko, M., Sato, I., Soejima, T. et al. Health-related quality of life in young adults in education, employment, or training: development of the Japanese version of Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) Generic Core Scales Young Adult Version. Qual Life Res 23, 2121–2131 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-014-0644-5

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