Development of a Screening Tool for the Impact of Children’s Feeding/Swallowing Problems on Their Caregivers

Abstract Background Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) has been established as an important gauge of patient-based health outcomes. It has emerged as an important health outcome in clinical trials and healthcare research, for which HRQOL assessment instruments have played an important role. Aim of the Work the aim of this study is to develop a screening tool to measure the impact of children’s feeding/swallowing difficulties on their caregivers, as understanding the specific concerns of these caregivers may provide health care providers and funding sources with information about management recommendations and this ultimately improves the care provided. Patients and Methods This study is a cross-sectional study, the 26-item Arabic Egyptian Feeding/Swallowing Disorder Impact Questionnaire (AEFSDIQ) was administered to 150 caregivers whose children complaining of feeding/swallowing disorders and coming to our Phoniatrics unit for first evaluation or follow up. Results Validation of the Caregiver Impact Questionnaire was done. Internal consistency reliability of the full scale was demonstrated by Kuder-richardson KR20 Reliability coefficient and it was equal 0.744 which indicated that the constructed questionnaire homogenous and is likely to produce consistent responses, which proved good reliability of the questionnaire. Conclusions This study presents a comprehensive, valid and reliable tool that can assess the impact of feeding/swallowing disorders on their caregivers. Caring for these children adversely impacts the QOL of caregivers. Clinicians can deliver better services by identifying and paying appropriate attention to factors that influence the QOL of caregivers of children with feeding/ swallowing problems. Recommendations From the course of the present study, we recommend that further multicenter studies with larger sample size could be of value for assignment of this questionnaire.