Validation of the Parents' Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children (PEACH) Rating Scale

Background: The Parents' Evaluation of Aural/Oral Performance of Children. (PEACH) is a caregiver report questionnaire that is suitable for use with children who wear hearing aids. It is available in both a Diary format and a Rating Scale format. Following a critical review of subjective outcome evaluation tools for infants, toddlers, and preschool children (Bagatto, Moodie, Seewald et al, 2011), the Rating Scale version of the PEACH was included in a recently developed guideline for monitoring real-world auditory performance of children who have hearing loss (Bagatto, Moodie, Malandrino et al, 2011). Normative data exist only for the PEACH Diary, not the Rating Scale. Purpose: This article evaluates whether published normative data for the PEACH Diary (Ching and Hill, 2007) are replicated on a different sample of children using the PEACH Rating Scale. Research Design: Fifty-nine children with normal hearing aged 2 mo to 83 mo and their primary caregivers participated in the study. Caregivers completed the PEACH Rating Scale for each child with normal hearing. Results: Results indicated close agreement to existing normative data collected with the PEACH Diary, with no differences in scores between males and females and good internal consistency. Age-related trends published for the Diary version were replicated using the Rating Scale version, as significantly lower scores were observed for children 20 mo of age and younger compared to those older than 20 mo of age. Conclusions: The currently published norms for the PEACH Diary are valid for use with the PEACH Rating Scale with caregivers of normal hearing children. This validation work adds to the evidence base of the PEACH Rating Scale and supports its use in clinical practice.