CONCEPT-DRIVEN APPROACH

LIMB-Q Kids is a rigorously developed patient-reported outcome measure that can be used to measure outcomes in children and adolescents with lower limb differences. Lower Limb Differences can arise from a spectrum of disorders, which can be either congenital or acquired. LIMB-Q Kids was developed from concept elicitation interviews with 79 patients with lower limb differences and their parents from Canada, Ethiopia, India and the USA. To establish content validity, 17 cognitive debriefing interviews were conducted with patients and input was obtained from 23 clinical experts from Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, India, UK, and the USA. LIMB-Q Kids was then field-tested internationally with 800 patients from 16 sites in 7 countries.

MODULAR DESIGN

The conceptual framework for LIMB-Q Kids covers 3 domains: appearance, health-related quality of life, and symptoms. Each domain is composed of multiple independently functioning scales. The variety of scales provides flexibility to choose the subset of scales best suited to measure the outcomes of interest in any given study or clinical situation. An advantage of the modular structure, with individually scored scales is that new scales can be added as gaps are identified.