Test performance characteristics of a case-finding psychosocial questionnaire for children with burn injuries and their families.

The Long-Form Psychosocial Questionnaire (LFPQ) includes full versions of the Child Stress Reaction Checklist, the Family Environment Scale, and the Parenting Stress Index. Condensed versions of these measures were used to create a Short-Form Psychosocial Questionnaire (SFPQ) that could be used as an indicator of child well-being and specific areas of child, parent, and family functioning in children aged 0 years to 18 years with burn injury. Parents of 830 children aged 0 years to 18 years with acute burn injury from the Shriners Hospitals for Children Multi-Center Benchmarking Study completed the LFPQ at baseline and follow-up visits up to 48 months at four major burn centers. The internal consistency reliability and variability of the LFPQ explained by the SFPQ for each of the measures were calculated. The construct validity of the SFPQ measures was determined by factor analysis. The magnitude of the change for the SFPQ measures during 48 months of follow-up was examined. The internal consistency reliability of the short-form measures ranged from 0.62 to 0.90. The variability of the long-form measures explained by the short-form measures was 61% for the Child Stress Reaction Checklist (average of six long-form scales), 60% for the Family Environment Scale (conflict), and 90% for the Parenting Stress Index (average of 13 scales). Factor analysis supported the construct validity of the model for the short-form measures. The magnitude of change for the short-form measures showed clinical improvement for 48 months. The SFPQ is both a reliable and valid assessment for evaluating the psychosocial functioning of children following burn injuries.