Assessment of Dermatologic Family Impact Scale in the Parents of Children With Psoriasis

The Dermatological Diseases Family Impact Scale (DeFIS) was developed to assess different aspects of health-related quality of life in the relatives of the patients with various skin diseases. The preliminary validation of this instrument was performed for the Turkish population. In the pilot study, this 15-item-questionnaire was shown to be easy to complete and score, and reliably help to evaluate the family members' quality of life.

Psoriasis is a chronic disease which can be expected to have a significant impact on the quality of life of the patients and parents/family members alike. In line with this assumption, previous studies demonstrated that psoriasis psychosocially affects not only the patients, but also their close relatives. The psoriasis family index has been developed in an effort to objectively measure the health-related quality of life of the family members of patients with psoriasis. Nevertheless, data regarding the health-related quality of life of the parents of pediatric patients with psoriasis in the Turkish population are relatively scarce.

In study, the investigators primarily aim to utilize DeFIS to assess the impact of childhood psoriasis on the quality of life of the patients' parents. Further, the investigators attempt to investigate the relation between the quality of life of the patients and their parents, and reveal disease characteristics which might influence the quality of life.