Parent–Child Agreement Across Child Health-Related Quality of Life Instruments: a Review of the Literature

Aim: To systematically review the literature published since 1999 on paediatric health-related quality of life (HRQL) in relation to parent–child agreement.

Methods: Literature searches used to identify studies which evaluated parent–child agreement for child HRQL measures.

Results: Nineteen studies were identified, including four HRQL instruments. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ (PedsQL™) was most commonly used. Differences in parent–child agreement were noted between domains for different measures. The impact of child and parent characteristics were not consistently considered; however parents of children in a nonclinical sample tended to report higher child HRQL scores than children themselves, while parents of children with health conditions tended to underestimate child HRQL.

Conclusion: Despite increasing numbers of studies considering children’s HRQL, information about variables contributing to parent–child agreement levels remains limited. Authors need to consistently provide evidence for reliability and validity of measures, and design studies to systematically investigate variables that impact on levels of parent–child agreement.