Lincoln, Yvonna, and Egon Guba, "Postpositivism and the Naturalist Paradigm," pp. 14-46 in Yvonna Lincoln and Egon Guba, Naturalistic Inquiry . Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1985.*

Objective. To provide recommendations for the core outcome domains that should be considered by investigators conducting clinical trials of the efficacy and effectiveness of treatments for chronic pain. Development of a core set of outcome domains would facilitate comparison and pooling of d

http://www.immpact.org/static/publications/Turk%20et%20al.,%202003.pdf

Core outcome domains for chronic pain clinical trials: IMMPACT recommendations.

The PedsQL 4.0 as a pediatric population health measure: feasibility, reliability, and validity.

One in 7 US children and adolescents is obese, yet little is known about their health-related quality of life (QOL) This study was a cross-sectional study of 106 children and adolescents (57 males) between the ages of 5 and 18 years, who had been referred to an academic children's hospital for evaluation of obesity between January and June 2002 Children and adolescents had a mean (SD) body mass index (BMI) of 347 (93) The main outcome measures were child self-report and parent proxy report using a pediatric QOL inventory generic core scale (range, 0-100) The inventory was administered by an interviewer for children aged 5 through 7 years Scores were compared with previously published scores for healthy children and adolescents and children and adolescents diagnosed as having cancer Compared with healthy children and adolescents, obese children and adolescents reported significantly lower health-related QOL in all domains  Obese children and adolescents were more likely to have impaired health-related QOL than healthy children and adolescents and were similar to children and adolescents diagnosed as having cancer Children and adolescents with obstructive sleep apnea reported a significantly lower health-related QOL total score than obese children and adolescents without obstructive sleep apnea Overall it is clear that physicians, parents, and teachers need to be informed of the risk for impaired health-related QOL among obese children and adolescents to target interventions that could enhance health outcomes

http://web.mit.edu/kilroi/Public/text/jama-obese-children.pdf

Health-related quality of life of severely obese children and adolescents.

Evaluating the quality of medical care.

OBJECTIVE —The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) is a modular instrument designed to measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children and adolescents aged 2–18 years. The PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales are child self-report and parent proxy-report scales developed as the generic core measure to be integrated with the PedsQL disease-specific modules. The PedsQL 3.0 Type 1 Diabetes Module was designed to measure diabetes-specific HRQOL. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS —The PedsQL Generic Core Scales and Diabetes Module were administered to 300 pediatric patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes and 308 parents. RESULTS —Internal consistency reliability for the PedsQL Generic Core Total Scale score (α = 0.88 child, 0.89 parent-report) and most Diabetes Module scales (average α = 0.71 child, 0.77 parent-report) was acceptable for group comparisons. The PedsQL 4.0 distinguished between healthy children and children with diabetes. The Diabetes Module demonstrated intercorrelations with dimensions of generic and diabetes-specific HRQOL. CONCLUSIONS —The results demonstrate the reliability and validity of the PedsQL in diabetes. The PedsQL may be used as an outcome measure for diabetes clinical trials and research.

https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/diacare/26/3/631.full.pdf

The PedsQL™ in Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes: Reliability and validity of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ Generic Core Scales and Type 1 Diabetes Module

Evaluating a children's hospital garden environment: utilization and consumer satisfaction

The demand for health care outcomes assessment is increasing, driven by the proliferation of managed care as a form of health care financing Providers, consumers, and payers can use health care outcomes to improve the efficiency and quality of care, spur performance improvement, and demonstrate accountability This review introduces health outcomes and focuses on one particular outcome—pediatric health-related quality of life (HRQOL), exemplified by the PedsQL™, a brief, practical, reliable, valid, and responsive measure of pediatric HRQOL HRQOL measurement has the potential, in pediatric clinical practice, to improve assessment, clinical management, and treatment evaluation if practical, conceptual, and empirical challenges are addressed These issues are discussed and directions for future research are described that would demonstrate the value of HRQOL measurement in pediatric clinical settings

Pediatric Health-Related Quality-of-Life Measurement Technology: Intersections between Science, Managed Care, and Clinical Care

Background. Problems accompany any experience with cancer. Methods. Patients, spouses, and providers were asked to identify their perceptions of the problems associated with recently diagnosed prostate cancer. Their answers were compared across respondent categories (physician, nurse, patient, and spouse) and cross‐informant variance was analyzed. Results. Significant variation in responses was noted by respondent categories in spite of the relatively small sample. Conclusion. The response variance may contribute to communication problems among patients, spouses, and providers, as well as missed opportunities for medically appropriate referrals to psychological treatment and community support resources.

Jenifer R. Jacobs

Papers

The PedsQL™ in Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes: Reliability and validity of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ Generic Core Scales and Type 1 Diabetes Module

Evaluating a children's hospital garden environment: utilization and consumer satisfaction

Pediatric Health-Related Quality-of-Life Measurement Technology: Intersections between Science, Managed Care, and Clinical Care

Problems associated with prostate cancer: differences of opinion among health care providers, patients, and spouses.