Development of a questionnaire for parental rating of leg pain in young children: internal validity and reliability testing following triangulation

Background: Leg pains, often described as ‘growing pains’, are a common reason for presentation of otherwise healthy children to health professionals. The prevalence of growing pains is unclear with previous estimates ranging from 2.6 to 33.6%. Without a firm estimate of prevalence there is no conte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inFoot (Edinburgh, Scotland) Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 42 - 48
Main Authors Evans, Angela M., Scutter, Sheila D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 2004
Subjects
Children
Growing pains
Questionnaire
Reliability
Triangulation
Validity
Validity
Triangulation
Questionnaire
Children
Growing pains
Reliability
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Summary:Background: Leg pains, often described as ‘growing pains’, are a common reason for presentation of otherwise healthy children to health professionals. The prevalence of growing pains is unclear with previous estimates ranging from 2.6 to 33.6%. Without a firm estimate of prevalence there is no context in which to further examine this enigmatic entity. A questionnaire has been developed to facilitate a survey to obtain a prevalence estimate of ‘growing pains’ in children aged 4–6 years of age, as reported by their parents. Methods: The process of triangulation was undertaken to gather information and develop concepts from three important sources: the medical literature, parent interviews and a focus group for children. To examine the internal validity of the questionnaire, themes were identified by independent experts and converted to the instrument scales. The reliability of the questionnaire was examined using a same subject, repeated measures study. Piloting occurred prior to implementation of the questionnaire in the prevalence study. Results: The questionnaire demonstrated good internal consistency (93% agreement) and good reliability (82.4% agreement). Weight and height measures were the least reliable results (51 and 45%, respectively). Conclusions: A questionnaire for parents of young children addressing ‘growing pains’ has been developed. This instrument has demonstrated good validity and reliability following construction by the method of triangulation.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
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ISSN:0958-2592
1532-2963
DOI:10.1016/j.foot.2003.09.005