Psychometric properties of the Persian version of the childhood epilepsy questionnaire-16 (QOLCE-16) in a sample of parents of children with epilepsy

As a chronic neurological condition, epilepsy adversely affects multiple dimensions of quality of life in pediatric and adolescent populations. The aims of the study were translation and cultural adaptation (TCA) of the Persian version of the 16-item Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy (QOLCE-16) and assessment of its psychometric properties in children and adolescents with epilepsy. A total of 290 parents of children with epilepsy were eligible to participate in this study and completed the questionnaire. TCA procedures were used to adapt the English version of the QOLCE-16 into Persian. Reliability, internal consistency, item analysis, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the QOLCE-16. Internal consistency measured by Cronbach’s alpha coefficients was excellent, ranging from 0.80 to 0.92. The items were significantly related to the total scores (p < 0.05). Intraclass correlation coefficients were satisfactory across all domains. Convergent and discriminant validity were supported for all subscales based on predefined correlation-based criteria. The results of CFA confirmed a second-order model with excellent fit based on significant standardized estimates of factor loadings and favorable goodness-of-fit indices (CFI = 0.979, TLI = 0.973, RMSEA = 0.062, 90% CI [0.048, 0.076], and SRMR = 0.062). The Persian version of the QOLCE-16 has good reliability and validity in assessing the health-related quality of life of children with epilepsy in Iran. The translated version, as a brief and valuable measurement tool, can be applied in clinical research of a Persian-speaking population.