Development and validation of a self-administered Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire for children

Summary Background Having a food allergy may affect health‐related quality of life (HRQL). Currently, no validated, self‐administered, disease‐specific HRQL questionnaire exists for children with food allergy. Objective The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire – Child Form (FAQLQ‐CF) in the Dutch language. Methods Interviews with food‐allergic children (n=13, 8–12 years) generated 139 HRQL items. The most important items were identified by 51 food‐allergic children using the clinical impact method. This resulted in the FAQLQ‐CF containing 24 items (total score range 1 ‘not troubled’ to 7 ‘extremely troubled’). The FAQLQ‐CF, the Food Allergy Independent Measure (FAIM) and a generic HRQL questionnaire (CHQ‐CF87) were sent to 115 food‐allergic children for cross‐sectional validation of the FAQLQ‐CF. Results Construct validity was demonstrated by the correlation between the FAQLQ‐CF and the FAIM (rho=0.60, P