Reliability and validity of the Children's Health Survey for Asthma

Objective. Describe the psychometric properties of the Children's Health Survey for Asthma (CHSA)- a condition-specific, self-report, functional health measure for parents of children 5 to 12 years of age with chronic asthma. Method. Data from two cross-sectional and one longitudinal study were used to assess internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, and validity of the CHSA. Over 275 parents and guardians of children with asthma completed the CHSA in one of three studies. The combined samples included a heterogenous mix of respondents by child age and race/ethnicity and parental marital and socioeconomic status. Five domain scores were computed: physical health, activity (child), activity (family), emotional health (child), and emotional health (family). Raw scale scores were transformed from 0 to 100 with higher scores indicating better or more positive outcomes. Results. Across the three samples, mean scale scores ranged from a low of 61.5 (emotional health of the child) to a high of 86.1 (activity [family]). Internal consistency reliability for each of the scales was high (Cronbach's alpha = .81-.92), and test-retest reliability (correlation between forms) ranged from .62 to .86. Significant differences in mean scores for four of five scales were noted between those with low versus moderate to high recent symptom activity. Conclusion. In three tests, the CHSA displays strong reliability and validity. Descriptive statistics demonstrate a range of scale scores. Internal consistency is good to excellent and short-term test-retest reliability is good for each of the five scales. Construct validity is demonstrated by the ability of CHSA to distinguish levels of disease severity, defined by symptom activity.