Computer-Administered Animation as a New Method for Measuring Young Children's Health Outcomes [Methods Study], Orange County, California, 2013-2018 (ICPSR 39517)
Patients often take surveys about their health or quality of life. Results from these surveys can help doctors meet patients' needs. Young children can't fill out surveys by themselves. They may not be able to read or understand the questions. Most often, parents or hospital staff read the questions aloud, or parents answer the questions for their children. But this method may not give accurate results.
In this study, the research team tested three surveys for children ages 4 to 12 who are going to have or who recently had surgery. The first survey asks about general health. The second survey asks about feeling worried before surgery. The third survey asks about pain after surgery. A computer program reads the survey questions aloud. The surveys are animated and choices for the answers appear as cartoons.
The team wanted to learn if the surveys were
- Accurate, or correctly capturing how the children were feeling
- Reliable, or if children answered in a consistent way when asked similar questions