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Psychometric properties of the Inventory of Life Quality in children and adolescents in Norwegian Sign Language

Aanondsen, Chris Margaret ; Jozefiak, Thomas ; Heiling, Kerstin LU ; Lydersen, Stian and Rimehaug, Tormod (2021) In BMC psychology 9(1).
Abstract

Background: Several studies have assessed the Quality of Life (QoL) in Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and adolescents. The findings from these studies, however, vary from DHH children reporting lower QoL than their typically hearing (TH) peers to similar QoL and even higher QoL. These differences have been attributed to contextual and individual factors such as degree of access to communication, the participants’ age as well as measurement error. Using written instead of sign language measures has been shown to underestimate mental health symptoms in DHH children and adolescents. It is expected that translating generic QoL measures into sign language will help gain more accurate reports from DHH children and adolescents, thus... (More)

Background: Several studies have assessed the Quality of Life (QoL) in Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and adolescents. The findings from these studies, however, vary from DHH children reporting lower QoL than their typically hearing (TH) peers to similar QoL and even higher QoL. These differences have been attributed to contextual and individual factors such as degree of access to communication, the participants’ age as well as measurement error. Using written instead of sign language measures has been shown to underestimate mental health symptoms in DHH children and adolescents. It is expected that translating generic QoL measures into sign language will help gain more accurate reports from DHH children and adolescents, thus eliminating one of the sources for the observed differences in research conclusions. Hence, the aim of the current study is to translate the Inventory of Life Quality in Children and Adolescents into Norwegian Sign Language (ILC-NSL) and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the self-report of the ILC-NSL and the written Norwegian version (ILC-NOR) for DHH children and adolescents. The parent report was included for comparison. Associations between child self-report and parent-report are also provided. Methods: Fifty-six DHH children completed the ILC-NSL and ILC-NOR in randomized order while their parents completed the parent-report of the ILC-NOR and a questionnaire on hearing- and language-related information. Internal consistency was examined using Dillon-Goldstein’s rho and Cronbach’s alpha, ILC-NSL and ILC-NOR were compared using intraclass correlation coefficients. Construct validity was examined by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results: Regarding reliability, the internal consistency was established as acceptable to good, whereas the comparison of the ILC-NSL with the ILC-NOR demonstrated closer correspondence for the adolescent version of the ILC than for the child version. The construct validity, as evaluated by PLS-SEM, resulted in an acceptable fit for the proposed one-factor model for both language versions for adolescents as well as the complete sample. Conclusion: The reliability and validity of the ILC-NSL seem promising, especially for the adolescent version, even though the validation was based on a small sample of DHH children and adolescents.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
DHH children, Psychometric properties, Quality of life, Sign language
in
BMC psychology
volume
9
issue
1
article number
89
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:34044895
  • scopus:85107014408
ISSN
2050-7283
DOI
10.1186/s40359-021-00590-x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
9db2dc82-071a-40de-81a3-1b3f5dd3914b
date added to LUP
2022-03-08 13:34:38
date last changed
2024-04-29 03:55:02
@article{9db2dc82-071a-40de-81a3-1b3f5dd3914b,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Several studies have assessed the Quality of Life (QoL) in Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and adolescents. The findings from these studies, however, vary from DHH children reporting lower QoL than their typically hearing (TH) peers to similar QoL and even higher QoL. These differences have been attributed to contextual and individual factors such as degree of access to communication, the participants’ age as well as measurement error. Using written instead of sign language measures has been shown to underestimate mental health symptoms in DHH children and adolescents. It is expected that translating generic QoL measures into sign language will help gain more accurate reports from DHH children and adolescents, thus eliminating one of the sources for the observed differences in research conclusions. Hence, the aim of the current study is to translate the Inventory of Life Quality in Children and Adolescents into Norwegian Sign Language (ILC-NSL) and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the self-report of the ILC-NSL and the written Norwegian version (ILC-NOR) for DHH children and adolescents. The parent report was included for comparison. Associations between child self-report and parent-report are also provided. Methods: Fifty-six DHH children completed the ILC-NSL and ILC-NOR in randomized order while their parents completed the parent-report of the ILC-NOR and a questionnaire on hearing- and language-related information. Internal consistency was examined using Dillon-Goldstein’s rho and Cronbach’s alpha, ILC-NSL and ILC-NOR were compared using intraclass correlation coefficients. Construct validity was examined by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Results: Regarding reliability, the internal consistency was established as acceptable to good, whereas the comparison of the ILC-NSL with the ILC-NOR demonstrated closer correspondence for the adolescent version of the ILC than for the child version. The construct validity, as evaluated by PLS-SEM, resulted in an acceptable fit for the proposed one-factor model for both language versions for adolescents as well as the complete sample. Conclusion: The reliability and validity of the ILC-NSL seem promising, especially for the adolescent version, even though the validation was based on a small sample of DHH children and adolescents.</p>}},
  author       = {{Aanondsen, Chris Margaret and Jozefiak, Thomas and Heiling, Kerstin and Lydersen, Stian and Rimehaug, Tormod}},
  issn         = {{2050-7283}},
  keywords     = {{DHH children; Psychometric properties; Quality of life; Sign language}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC psychology}},
  title        = {{Psychometric properties of the Inventory of Life Quality in children and adolescents in Norwegian Sign Language}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40359-021-00590-x}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s40359-021-00590-x}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}