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Measuring cancer‐specific child adjustment difficulties: Development and validation of the Children's Oncology Child Adjustment Scale (ChOCs)
Author(s) -
Burke Kylie,
McCarthy Maria,
Lowe Cherie,
Sanders Matthew R.,
Lloyd Erin,
Bowden Madeleine,
Williams Lauren
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.26223
Subject(s) - discriminant validity , medicine , generalizability theory , construct validity , scale (ratio) , clinical psychology , pediatric cancer , criterion validity , reliability (semiconductor) , internal consistency , childhood cancer , concurrent validity , cancer , psychometrics , developmental psychology , psychology , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics
Background Childhood cancer is associated with child adjustment difficulties including, eating and sleep disturbance, and emotional and other behavioral difficulties. However, there is a lack of validated instruments to measure the specific child adjustment issues associated with pediatric cancer treatments. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate the reliability and validity of a parent‐reported, child adjustment scale. Procedure One hundred thirty‐two parents from two pediatric oncology centers who had children (aged 2–10 years) diagnosed with cancer completed the newly developed measure and additional measures of child behavior, sleep, diet, and quality of life. Children were more than 4 weeks postdiagnosis and less than 12 months postactive treatment. Factor structure, internal consistency, and construct (convergent) validity analyses were conducted. Results Principal component analysis revealed five distinct and theoretically coherent factors: Sleep Difficulties, Impact of Child's Illness, Eating Difficulties, Hospital‐Related Behavior Difficulties, and General Behavior Difficulties. The final 25‐item measure, the Children's Oncology Child Adjustment Scale (ChOCs), demonstrated good internal consistency (α = 0.79–0.91). Validity of the ChOCs was demonstrated by significant correlations between the subscales and measures of corresponding constructs. Conclusion The ChOCs provides a new measure of child adjustment difficulties designed specifically for pediatric oncology. Preliminary analyses indicate strong theoretical and psychometric properties. Future studies are required to further examine reliability and validity of the scale, including test–retest reliability, discriminant validity, as well as change sensitivity and generalizability across different oncology samples and ages of children. The ChOCs shows promise as a measure of child adjustment relevant for oncology clinical settings and research purposes.