A systematic review of patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) used in child and adolescent burn research

•23 studies identified 32 different PROMs (31 generic, 1 burns-specific).•Psychometric quality of the majority of PROMs was poor.•Only two generic and one burns-specific PROM had relevant psychometric evidence.•Few PROMs have been psychometrically validated with child/adolescent burn patients.

IntroductionPatient reported outcome measures (PROMs) can identify important information about patient needs and therapeutic progress. The aim of this review was to identify the PROMs that are being used in child and adolescent burn care and to determine the quality of such scales.MethodsComputerised and manual bibliographic searches of Medline, Social Sciences Index, Cinahl, Psychinfo, Psycharticles, AMED, and HAPI, were used to identify English-language articles using English-language PROMs from January 2001 to March 2013. The psychometric quality of the PROMs was assessed.Results23 studies met the entry criteria and identified 32 different PROMs (31 generic, 1 burns-specific). Overall, the psychometric quality of the PROMs was low; only two generic scales (the Perceived Stigmatisation Questionnaire and the Social Comfort Scale) and only one burns-specific scale (the Children Burn Outcomes Questionnaire for children aged 5–18) had psychometric evidence relevant to this population.ConclusionsThe majority of PROMs did not have psychometric evidence for their use with child or adolescent burn patients. To appropriately identify the needs and treatment progress of child and adolescent burn patients, new burns-specific PROMs need to be developed and validated to reflect issues that are of importance to this population.