Preference-based measure of social participation from the Handicap Scale for Children

Abstract

Objective: To establish a model that estimates a preference-based measure (valuation) of social participation for children between 8 and 18 years of age from the Handicap Scale for Children (HSC), a validated questionnaire for children with a chronic illness. Methods: Vignettes of the HSC classification system were valued by a representative sample of 249 persons aged 18 years onwards. Linear and nominal scale (mixed-effects) models were used to analyze the valuations of the vignettes. Results: We established a model that performed better than a model that simply sums up the levels of each dimension. Conclusion: We obtained a measure that can be used for assessing need, for quality assurance and for evaluating interventions on a group level aiming to increase social participation in children with chronic illnesses.

Keywords::

• children
• chronic illness
• Handicap Scale for Children
• modeling preference data
• preference-based measure

Acknowledgement

We thank Stef van Buuren for his help with the design of this study, and Ton Vogels for his valuable suggestions for improvement.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.