Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) is a North American self-administered instrument to assess physical and psychosocial health status for children (CHQ-CF) and their parents (CHQ-PF). We have determined reliability and validity of the CHQ on 45 children with JCA, who were treated as outpatients. Reliability (Cronbach's alpha) ranged between .86 and .94 for the dimensions of the CHQ-CF and between .69 and .94 for the CHQ-PF. Significant correlations (p<.01) were obtained between 7 of the CHQ dimensions and the Child Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) categories, and were particularly strong in the physical domain. Evidence of validity was found through significant correlations (p<0.01) between the CHQ and disease variables. Correlations between parents' and children's responses ranged between .366 and .786. CHQ was found to be valid and reliable for children with JCA and their parents. It seems particularly important to recommend that the children themselves are asked about their perceptions of health status and quality of life.

The Swedish version of the CHQ is a reliable and valid instrument. Furthermore, it is recommended to ask children themselves about their health-related quality of life.

Epilepsy is common in childhood, the prevalence being about five per 1000 children. The purpose of this study was to assess well-being in children with controlled epilepsy (but did not include those with obvious neurodeficits such as mental retardation or cerebral palsy) and compare them with age-matched healthy children. The patient group comprised of 31 children, 12 boys and 19 girls, whereas the control population group consisted of 342 children, 176 boys and 166 girls who were all in good health. All children involved in the study were aged between 9-13 years. A questionnaire was distributed to the children to complete. It consisted of 39 bipolar adjectives and a visual analogue scale was employed. The results show that the group of children with controlled epilepsy did not differ significantly from the age-matched control group. There was no significant difference between the sexes except for the dimension of vitality, where the boys scored better than the girls. Thus the well-being of children with controlled epilepsy seems to be similar to that of children from a control population. The psychometric properties of the instrument were also assessed. An assessment of well-being in children with intractable epilepsy, using a similar approach, is in progress.

Aim: 1) To assess the reliability and validity of the Swedish version of the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ), 2) to determine the correlation between children's and parents’ responses to the CHQ, and 3) to describe and compare responses to the CHQ of four diagnostic groups. Methods: A total of 199 Swedish children aged 9–16 with diagnoses of asthma (n=53), diabetes (n=48), short stature (n=51) and juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA, n=47) and their parents answered the CHQ and relevant validation instruments at a clinic check‐up. Coefficient alphas were determined for all dimensions of the instrument, and all but four had acceptable to very good reliability (0.75–0.94). Results: Concerning construct validity, the CHQ correlated significantly with appropriate dimensions of the validation instruments. In general, there were significant correlations between the children's and parents’ responses. Comparisons between the diagnostic groups showed several significant differences. The short stature group had the highest quality of life and the JCA group the lowest. There were no sex differences, but children who had not reached puberty scored better on the dimensions of mental health and self‐esteem. Conclusion: The Swedish version of the CHQ is a reliable and valid instrument. Furthermore, it is recommended to ask children themselves about their health‐related quality of life.