Development and Validation of the Distress Thermometer for Parents of a Chronically Ill Child

Lotte Haverman*, Hedy A. van Oers, Perrine F. Limperg, Bregje A. Houtzager, Jaap Huisman, Anne-Sophie Darlington, Heleen Maurice-Stam, Martha A. Grootenhuis

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Objective To develop and validate a Distress Thermometer for Parents (DT-P) for chronically ill children and to determine a cutoff score for clinical distress.

Study design Parents of a chronically ill child (0-18 years) were recruited via announcements or were actively approached at the outpatient clinics of the Emma Children's Hospital/Academic Medical Center and Vrije Universiteit Medical Center. We modeled the development of the DT-P on the Distress Thermometer used in oncology medical care. The DT-P consists of a thermometer score from 0 (no distress) to 10 (extreme distress) and a problem list (practical, social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and parenting domains). The DT-P was validated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Parenting Stress Index.

Results The mean thermometer score of the 706 participating parents was 3.7 (SD 3.0). The thermometer score and the scores in the practical, emotional, physical, and cognitive problem domains were strongly related to anxiety, depression, and the total score of the HADS (0.55

Conclusions We developed the DT-P and examined its diagnostic utility in a large sample. The DT-P appeared to be a valid and useful short screening-tool for identifying parental distress.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1140-1146.e2
Number of pages1139
JournalJournal of Pediatrics
Volume163
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2013

Keywords

  • HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY
  • DEPRESSION SCALE
  • HOSPITAL ANXIETY
  • MATERNAL DEPRESSION
  • PSYCHOSOCIAL RISK
  • DISEASE-ACTIVITY
  • SYMPTOMS
  • ASTHMA
  • PEDIATRICS
  • SYSTEM

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