Assessment using e-Health technologies in pediatric psychology: Developing an App on iPad for the Quality of Life Systemic Inventory for Children (QLSI-C)

Objective:Integration of e-Health technologies for purposes of both assessment and intervention has recently become an interest area in pediatric psychology. The purpose of this study is to present psychometric characteristics of a technology-based (i.e., iPad administration) approach for measuring quality of life (QoL) in children.
Methods: Sample consisted of 80 children (8-12 years) recruited from elementary schools in Belgium. They completed the Quality of Life Systemic Inventory for Children (QLSI-C) twice over a two-week delay, in a crossover design that used paper and iPad-based modes of administration. QLSI-C takes a unique approach to assessing QoL relative to existing measures. Specifically, it considers QoL to be the difference (gap score) between the present situation (state score) and the child’s expectations (goal), weighted by the importance (rank) assigned for each life domain. Cronbach’s coefficient was computed to assess internal consistency for each of the four global scores (State, Goal, Gap, Rank). ANOVA was used to assess the equivalence of the new iPad and paper formats. Test-retest reliability was assessed using correlational analysis.
Results: Alpha coefficients for the global scores were as follows: State (.87), Goal (.94), Gap (.72), and Rank (.79). ANOVA results indicate that main effects for group (p = 0.75) and time (p= 0.31) were not statistically significant, nor was the interaction effect (p = 0.86) for the QoL score (Gap). Correlations for the test-retest reliability of the 4 global scores ranged from .66 to .90.
Conclusions: The iPad format of QLSI-C appears valid in comparison to the original paper format and test-retest stability for the iPad format is good. This technology approach to assessment is more attractive for children, decreases time for administration, and enhances the ease of scoring. Thus, these advantages might encourage both clinicians and researchers to consider using e-Health developments in assessment in pediatric psychology.