Cough-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaires

A cough can be very distressing and have a significant effect on many children and their families.

As young children are unable to verbally express themselves adequately, it is standard practice for parents to be proxy assessors of their young child ’s medical condition. Also, parents/carers are themselves affected by their child’s medical condition and thus the parents’ own quality of life ("QoL") is relevant. Thus, QoL measures used in paediatrics concern the parents/carers themselves.

The use of QoL tools are considered essential for high quality clinical research and intervention. These tools help healthcare professionals reliably measure and evaluate the efficacy of their intervention. Unfortunately, there were no valid and reliable measures available to paediatricians – until now.

Researchers from the University of Queensland in collaboration with healthcare professionals have developed four validated cough-specific -quality of life (“QoL”) questionnaires to assist health care professionals during their research and clinical care of children affected by cough and their parents/caregivers.

1. PC-QoL-27: the Parent-Cough Quality of Life questionnaire (27 items)

A reliable and valid outcome measure that assesses QoL related to childhood cough, based on parent questionnaire responses, at a given time point and measures changes in cough-specific QOL over time.

The PC-QoL is a 27-item questionnaire designed to assess the level of frequency of parents’ feelings (15 items) and worry (12 items) related to their child’s cough. It uses a 7-point Likert-type scale, with higher scores reflecting lower frequency and fewer worry concerns (ie, greater QoL).

2. PC-QoL-8: the Parent-Cough Quality of Life questionnaire (8 items)

Although many QOL instruments, including the PC-QoL-27, have proved useful for a variety of clinical and research purposes, they are often believed to be too long by both clinicians for inclusion in their interventions and by parents juggling the many demands on their time.

The brief PC-QoL-8 questionnaire is a valid, reliable, and responsive tool that balances the number of items against the comprehensiveness of the content and the statistical parameters of the scale

3. PAC-QoL: the Parent-proxy Children’s Acute Cough-specific QoL questionnaire (16 items)

The 16 item PAC-QoL has been specifically validated for use by parents of children with acute cough.

4. CC-QoL: the Child Chronic Cough-Specific Quality of Life questionnaire (16 items)

The validated child chronic cough-specific QoL (CC-QoL) questionnaire is designed to assess the impact on older children and adolescents aged 7–17 years old of their chronic cough across multiple dimensions of well-being.

The questionnaires are the first fully validated children’s cough-specific quality of life questionnaires designed for paediatricians and parents of children with chronic and acute cough. They also align with the World Health Organisation domains of psychological, physical and social functioning.

Not only are the questionnaires reliable and valid, but they are also sensitive to change over time. This means that they measure the impact of the child’s cough on parents’ and caregivers’ wellbeing and daily life while also mirroring the changes in the cough severity.

Access and Pricing

The questionnaires are available now for purchase as licensed downloadable files. License terms and conditions do apply, so please read these carefully on the product page. Payment is via credit card only.

General Use Licensees can use the CC-QoL for:

• Clinical intervention/treatment
• Use by individual students and faculty in conducting academic and scholarly research, academic publishing, or course preparation.
• Use as required course readings or viewings.
• Distribution of materials to students in a class or posting or scanning materials to a Learning Management System Website (“Learning Management System Website” means a password-protected website or other system maintained by an instructor for use by students enrolled in a particular course).
• Academic presentations or conferences (must be accompanied by reference to the Copyright Owner) and with reference that use the CC-QoL is not permitted without entering into a license)

Pricing:

The questionnaires are priced based on your estimated number of uses during the 12-month license period.

• $700 for 100 uses

If you require more than 100 uses in a 12-month period, then you can purchase multiple packs. Pack sizes are 100 uses each.

Pricing is in Australian Dollars and is exclusive of GST.

Instructions:

To purchase a license:

1. Click on the General Use “order Now” button
2. Select the questionnaire you wish to order.
3. Click on “Checkout Now” button
4. Register an account by completing the required information.
5. Pay by credit card
6. Your order will be processed and confirmation of your license and access to the requested materials will be sent to your email.

License renewals after the initial 12 month period can be completed in the same manner.

Upon receipt of your credit card payment, you will receive the ordered questionnaire files as downloadable pdf documents.

Research and Teaching Licenses

If you are seeking to access the questionnaires strictly for research and teaching purposes and you are NOT a clinical service provider (such as a hospital or healthcare provider), then you may wish to apply for a Research and Teaching Use license. These licenses do not have a fee attached however, they have very strict limitations and restrictions. These licenses DO NOT PERMIT:

• Publication of the questionnaires
• Modification of the questionnaires
• Translation of the questionnaires into other languages
• Sharing, distribution, sub-licensing or sale of the questionnaires

Instructions for Research and Teaching Use Licenses:

To apply for a research and teaching use license:

1. Click on the Research and Teaching Use “order Now” button
2. Select the questionnaire you wish to order.
3. Click on “Checkout Now” button
4. Register an account by completing the required information.
5. Your application will be reviewed and considered for approval. You may be asked for further information to support your application. Please note that if you are a clinician in a hospital or healthcare setting then your application will likely be declined and you will be asked to purchase a General Use License.

License renewals after the initial 12 month period can be completed in the same manner.

Upon approval of your application, you will receive the ordered questionnaire files as downloadable pdf documents.