Readability of the Disablement in the Physically Active Scale in Pediatric Athletes: A Preliminary Investigation

The Disablement in the Physically Active scale (DPA) is a patient-reported outcome measure that is used to evaluate health-related quality of life in athletic and highly functional patient populations. However, its appropriateness for pediatric athletes is unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the readability of the DPA in pediatric athletes. On average, athletes reported that they had difficulty reading 20.2% of each domain and 81.8% of the scale domains exceeded the fifth-grade reading-level threshold. These findings suggest that the DPA may not be appropriate for pediatric athletes. Future research is warranted to develop a pediatric version of the DPA, utilizing the results of this study for guidance.