Acceptability of the Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life-Direct Weight (SEIQoL-DW) in youth with type 1 diabetes

The purpose of this study was to assess the acceptability of the Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life-Direct Weight (SEIQoL-DW) in youth with diabetes. This measure asks respondents to assess the importance and satisfaction of domains that they nominate as being important to their own quality of life. Seventy-seven young people (age 8-17 years, M = 12.4) with type 1 diabetes were given the SEIQoL-DW. Data from 10 participants were deemed invalid due to respondents' inability to understand the task. Respondents whose data were deemed invalid were all under 12 years of age, M = 9.3. For participants with valid data, interviewers' ratings of participant boredom and fatigue were low. Time to complete the interview was reasonably short, M = 14.9 min. Of the 335 total QOL domains nominated by participants with valid data, only 19 domains (6%) were nominated with the assistance of a standard list. Forty-five participants nominated 'diabetes' as a life domain. Results indicate the SEIQoL-DW performed well with respondents over 12 years of age, is appropriate for samples with diabetes, and taps into diabetes-relevant domains. Further research with more diverse samples is needed before firm age cut-offs can be established for its use.