Re se arc h C ro ss Va lida tio n o f the Turkish Ve rsio n o f C hildre n’s De rm a to lo g y Life Q ua lity Inde x Didem Didar Balcı 1* , MD, Özlem Sangün 2 , MD, Tacettin İnandı 3 , MD Address: 1 Assist. Prof., Mustafa Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Dermatology, Antakya; 2 Assist. Prof., Mustafa Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Antakya, Turkey; 3 Assoc. Prof., Mustafa Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Antakya, Turkey. E-mail: didemaltiner@yahoo.com * Corresponding author: Didem Didar Balcı, MD, Mustafa Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine Department of Dermatology, Antakya, 31100, Turkey. Pub lishe d : J Turk Ac a d De rma to l 2007;1 (4): 71402a This a rtic le is a va ila b le fro m: http :/ / www.jta d .o rg / 2007/ 4/ jta d 71402a .p d f Key Words: q ua lity o f life , c hild re n, c hild re n’ s d e rma to lo g y life q ua lity ind e x Ab stra c t O b je c tive s: The a im o f the stud y wa s to a sse ss the va lid ity a nd re lia b ility o f the Turkish ve rsio n o f the C hild re n’ s De rma to lo g y Life Q ua lity Ind e x (C DLQ I). Methods: The C DLQ I is a 10 ite m d e rma to lo g y sp e c ific -ind e x d e ve lo p e d o rig ina lly in Eng lish. Using a sta nd a rd “ fo rwa rd -b a c kwa rd ” tra nsla tio n p ro c e d ure , the Eng lish la ng ua g e ve rsio n o f the q ue stio n- na ire wa s tra nsla te d into Turkish la ng ua g e b y fo ur b iling ua ls. O ne hund re d a nd fifty fo ur c hild re n with skin p ro b le ms a nd 58 c hild re n with p ro b le ms unre la te d to the skin c o mp le te d b o th the Turkish C DLQ I a nd the Turkish KINDL ® q ue stio nna ire s. Inte rna l c o nsiste nc y wa s te ste d using the C ro nb a c h a va lue . KINDL ® wa s use d in p a ra lle l with C DLQ I in o rd e r to te st c o nve rg e nt va lid ity. Re sults: O ne hund re d a nd fifty fo ur c hild re n with skin p ro b le ms (65 b o ys a nd 89 g irls; me a n a g e 11.83 ye a rs) a nd 58 c hild re n with p ro b le ms unre la te d to the skin (25 b o ys a nd 33 g irls; me a n a g e 11.20 ye a rs) c o mp le te d b o th the Turkish C DLQ I a nd the Turkish KINDL ® q ue stio nna ire s. The re lia b ility o f the Turkish C DLQ I q ue stio nna ire wa s o b ta ine d b y C ro nb a c h’ s a lp ha c o e ffic ie nt (a = 0.82). The re we re no sta tistic a lly sig nific a nt d iffe re nc e s in the sub sc a le s a nd to ta l C DLQ I sc o re s a c c o rd ing to the g e n- der (Stude nt’ s t-te st, p >0.05). The re wa s no c o rre la tio n o f the sub sc a le s a nd to ta l C DLQ I with a g e (Pe a rso n c o rre la tio n te st, p >0.05). The to ta l sc o re o f C DLQ I wa s fo und to b e re la te d to a ll se ve n sub - sc a le s o f the KINDL ® with ne g a tive c o rre la tio n. The to ta l sc o re o f KINDL ® was found to be related to a ll sub sc a le s (e xc e p t “ tre a tme nt” sub sc a le ) o f the C DLQ I with ne g a tive c o rre la tio n. C o nc lusio n: The re sults o f this stud y ha ve d e mo nstra te d tha t the tra nsla te d ve rsio n o f C DLQ I is re li- a b le a nd va lid , a nd the re fo re a va ila b le to me a sure the q ua lity o f life in Turkish c hild re n with skin d is- e a se s. Introduction Skin diseases are usually not life- threatening, but can affect the social rela- tionships, daily activities and emotional con- ditions of the patients [1]. Many generic in- struments such as KINDL ® and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory have been designed to measure the quality of life in various dis- eases for pediatric patients [2, 3]. Children’s and Teenagers’ versions of KINDL ® which was originally designed in German language was validated and developed for the Turkish chil- dren [4, 5, 6]. Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) translated and validated for the Turk- ish adult patients who have dermatological diseases [7]. Children’s Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI) is a dermatological disease-specific QoL measure for the children aged 5-16 years. It was originally created in English by Lewis-Jones and Finlay [8]. Pa g e 1 o f 5 (p a g e numb e r no t fo r c ita tio n p urp o se s) eISSN 1307 eISSN 1307- 394X 394X