Translation, Adaptation and Initial Validation of the Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire - Child Form (8-12 Years) in Ukrainan Language

ABSTRACT

Food allergy affects quality of life of children and their families. In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, when a physician has to consult a patient remotely, the introduction of a disease-specific health-related quality of life questionnaire has become particularly important for assessing the course of the disease and the effectiveness of treatment interventions. Our study involved 60 children aged 8 to 12 years and was conducted at the Communal Nonprofit Organization "City Children's Clinical Hospital of Lviv" (Ukraine). After the linguistic validation, both the Ukrainian FAQLQ-CF and Food Allergy Independent Measure (FAIM) were used for interviewing children with diagnosed food allergy during the visit to the allergist. The prevalence of allergies, the proportion and the correlation between different allergens were analyzed in the children involved in the study. Reliability of FAQLQ-CF was evaluated by calculating Cronbach's alpha. A factor analysis was performed to assess construct validity and to reveal an underlying structure of four factors that explain a total of 55% percent of the variance. The significant strong positive correlation was between the total FAQLQ-CF and the total FAIM (r=0.81, p>0.05). Each of the FAQLQ-CF subscales correlated significantly with at least one of the FAIM scale questions. The internal consistency of the Ukrainian FAQLQ-CF was sufficient (Cronbach's alpha 0.73). The Ukrainian FAQLQ-CF is acknowledged as a suitable, reliable and valid tool to be self-completed by food allergic children aged 8-12 years. The information obtained from this questionnaire can be used in clinical trials, aiming at outcome assessment.