The Children's Headache Assessment Scale (CHAS): Factor structure and psychometric properties

Abstract

This study investigated the content validity, factor structure, and psychometric properties of the Children's Headache Assessment Scale (CHAS), a parent rating scale for identifying environmental variables associated with pediatric headache. In Study 1, input from physicians and psychologists was obtained to develop a revised set of 44 items receiving high endorsement. In Study 2, the questionnaire was administered to parents of 92 child headache sufferers, ages 6-16, and readministered 2 weeks later. An exploratory factor analysis revealed five factors (Disruptive Impact, Social Consequences, Stress Antecedents, Physical Antecedents and Quiet Coping, and Prescription Medication Use) that reflect distinct environmental concomitants of childhood headache. Scale reliabilities (alpha, .64-.82) indicate acceptable internal consistency, and test-retest reliabilities indicate relatively stable factors and items. High scores on the Disruptive Impact factor were associated with more severe, lengthy, and infrequent headache occurrence, lending initial support for the validity of this factor. Overall, the findings support the clinical and research utility of the CHAS in behavioral treatment of childhood headache.

Connections among parent and child atopic illnesses

“…First, previous studies on asthma in which parents used the same rating scales have found that asthma severity in children is influenced by heredity (21) and is significantly correlated with the frequencies of early and recent respiratory infections and with the impact of respiratory infection as a trigger of asthma episodes (30). Second, other research has shown that parent reports regarding their children's episodic illnesses, such as headache and asthma, are reliable and valid (31,32).…”

Behavioral Assessment and Treatment of Pediatric Headache

“…Finally, headache-specific scales are increasingly being developed for the purposes of assisting in the diagnosis of headache (e.g., Labbé et al, 1985;Mindell & Andrasik, 1987), identifying environmental variables associated with headache (Budd, Workman, Lemsky, & Quick, 1994), and assessing impact of headache on various important life domains (quality of life) and extent of disability (Andrasik, 2001b;D'Amico et al, 2003;Hershey et al, 2004;Powers, Patton, Hommel, & Hershey, 2004).…”