• E M Bunge, M-L Essink-Bot, M P H M Kobussen, L W A van Suijlekom-Smit, H A Moll, and H Raat.
• Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands. e.bunge@erasmusmc.nl
• Arch. Dis. Child. 2005 Apr 1;90(4):351-8.

BackgroundIn addition to clinical measures in the evaluation of paediatric interventions, health related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important outcome. The TAPQOL (TNO-AZL Preschool children Quality of Life) was developed to measure HRQoL in preschool children. It is a generic instrument consisting of 12 scales that cover the domains physical, social, cognitive, and emotional functioning.AimsTo evaluate the feasibility, score distribution, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and discriminative and concurrent validity of the TAPQOL multi-item scales in preschool children, aged 2-48 months. Also to evaluate the feasibility, reliability, and validity separately for infants (2-12 months old) and toddlers (12-48 months old).MethodsParents of a random general population sample of 500 preschool children were sent a questionnaire by mail. A random subgroup of 159 parents who participated received a retest after two weeks.ResultsThe response rate was 83% at the test and 75% at the retest. There were few missing answers. Six scales showed ceiling effects. Nine scales had Cronbach's alphas >0.70. In general, score distributions and Cronbach's alphas were comparable for infants and toddlers. Test-retest showed no significant differences in mean scale scores; two scales had intra-class correlations <0.50. Five scales showed significant differences between children with no conditions versus children with two or more parent reported chronic conditions.ConclusionResults showed that the TAPQOL is a feasible instrument to measure HRQoL and support the reliability and discriminative validity of the majority of its scales for infants as well as toddlers.

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