The GCQ was developed in the 1990s and is based on children’s groups outlining what was important in their life. Some of the decisions regarding layout and wording need updating.
Gender
In creating the layout and mode of questioning the authors wanted to avoid using the word ‘child’ as many teenagers can feel alienated by the term. As such the measure had two versions, one using boy and one using girl as the reference terms. This is now recognised to be unhelpful for those children and young people who are not comfortable with picking a specific gender and the measure can be written out as a non-illustrated tick box measure, using the questions as per the list on the instruction page and inserting a term that the child or young person feels more comfortable with.
Parents
The measure asks about parents, and we recognise that this may not be appropriate for all children or young people and again the measure can be written out as a non-illustrated tick box measure, using the questions as per the list on the instruction page and changing the word ‘parents’ to one specific parent/carer, such as mother or grandfather, guardian or foster parent. it could also be expanded to have one question asking about one specific parent/carer and a further question for a second parent/carer.
Please note that changes will make the norm values less relevant and all changes should be described in detail in any publications. The GCQ should still be cited as the measure being used but with adaptations clearly indicated in the methods section.