The three KIDSCREEN questionnaire versions were designed to measure the health-related quality of life of children and adolescents aged 8 to 18 years regardless of their current health status. In addition to a self-assessment version that can be completed by the child/adolescent themselves, a third-party assessment version is also available for parents or other caregivers.
The questionnaires can be used in different settings (home, school, hospital, etc.) by qualified individuals with experience in epidemiology, medicine, or public health. The instrument comes with tested instructions that allow independent completion. It can also be used in telephone or face-to-face interviews. A computer-assisted version of the questionnaires is also available for children and adolescents.
Important notes
The questionnaires were developed with the repeated involvement of children and adolescents and their comprehensibility was repeatedly tested. The time frame of one week set in the questionnaire is based on these investigations, as is the precise formulation of the questions and answers. The following tips should be observed when using the KIDSCREEN questionnaires:
- It is recommended to use the complete version of each questionnaire (KIDSCREEN-52, KIDSCREEN-27 or KIDSCREEN-10 Index). Removing individual items is problematic and therefore not recommended.
- The order of the items should be maintained as described in the manual. The wording of the items as well as the number and formulation of the answer categories should also not be changed. Larger answer boxes can be used for interviewing younger children.
- The layout of the questionnaire should be as close as possible to that of the original (e.g. the font size should be 12 pt). Additional illustrations and graphics in the questionnaire are not recommended.
A comparison of collected data with the international and national KIDSCREEN reference data is only permissible if the guidelines outlined above were followed during data collection.
