Citation

Snyder AR, Swank EM, Lam KC, Hansen ML, Valovich McLeod TC. J. Sport Rehab. 2013; 22(4): 248-253.

Affiliation

Athletic Training Program, Dept of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, A.T. Still University, Mesa, AZ.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Human Kinetics Publishers)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

23689385

Abstract

CONTEXT: Accurate assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is important for quality patient care. Evaluation of HRQOL typically occurs with patient-self report, but some instruments, such as the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), allow for proxy reporting. Limited information exists comparing patient and proxy reports of HRQOL following sport-related injury in adolescent athletes. OBJECTIVE: TO compare patient ratings and parent-proxy ratings of HRQOL in adolescent athletes who suffer musculoskeletal injuries requiring orthopaedic consultation. We hypothesized poor agreement between patient and parent-proxy ratings of HRQOL. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Orthopaedic practice. PATIENTS: Thirteen adolescent patients with a sport-related musculoskeletal injury requiring orthopaedic consultation and one of their parents participated. INTERVENTIONS: During the initial visit to the physician's office, patients were asked to complete the PedsQL, and the patient's parent was asked to complete the parent-proxy version of the PedsQL. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: The PedsQL is a pediatric generic outcome measure that consists of a total score and 4 subscale scores: physical, emotional, social, and school functioning. Means and standard deviations (SD) were calculated for all scores and comparisons between patient-self report and parent-proxy ratings of HRQOL were made for the PedsQL total score and subscale scores using Pearson product moment correlations (r). RESULTS: Pearson product moment correlations showed little-to-fair, insignificant relationships between patient self-report and parent-proxy report of the PedsQL for the total score (r=-0.1) and all subscales (range: r=0.1-0.4). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest a lack of agreement between patient and parent-proxy ratings of HRQOL, with patients rating their HRQOL lower than their parent. Patient perception of HRQOL may be more accurate than proxy report and support the use of patient-rated HRQOL in patient evaluation. Assessments of HRQOL made by proxies, even those close to the patient, may not represent patient health status.

Language: en