Dermatitis Family Impact Questionnaire
This questionnaire measures how much having a child with atopic dermatitis affects the quality of life of other (adult) members of the family.
It is designed to be completed by adults (aged 16 years or over) who have a child (up to and including the age of 15 years 11 months) in the family with atopic dermatitis.
Who can use it
This questionnaire can be used in a range of settings by clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, for-profit organisations, students or researchers.
Depending on who you are and what you're using the questionnaire for, you may need to apply for licence and pay a fee.
Learn more about who can use this questionnaire and how to administer it.
Recall period
The questions are designed to be completed with a one-week recall period.
Download the questionnaire
Dermatitis Family Impact Questionnaire (DFI) - English version
Measure how much having a child with atopic dermatitis has affected a family member over the last week.
If this document cannot be read by your assistive software, you can request an accessible version by emailing web@cardiff.ac.uk. Please include the assistive tools you use and the format you require.
Different language versions
This zip file contains the questionnaires in different languages, along with the translation certificates. Find out more about our translation and linguistic validation process, and what to do if you'd like to create a new translation.
Dermatitis Family Impact Questionnaire (DFI) - different language versions
Download the questionnaire in several different languages: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, Filipino, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Taiwan and Thai.
How to score it
Each question is scored from 0-3.
The scoring system for the DFI is:
- Not at all = 0
- A little = 1
- A lot = 2
- Very much = 3
The score of each of the 10 questions is summed. The minimum DFI score is 0 (= no impact on life of family). The maximum DFI score is 30 (= maximum effect on life of family).
There are no validated score banding descriptors yet published.
Copyright
The DFI is protected under copyright, so you must not change the format, wording or design of the questionnaire.
The copyright statement for the Dermatitis Family Impact Questionnaire, which must always be reproduced at the end of every copy of the document, is:
© M.S. Lewis-Jones, A.Y.Finlay, 1995
By agreement, the University now owns and administers all copyright matters relating to the DFI.
Original publication
Lawson V, Lewis-Jones MS, Finlay AY, Reid P, Owens RG. The family impact of childhood atopic dermatitis: the Dermatitis Family Impact Questionnaire. Br J Dermatol, 1998; 138: 107-113.
Other key publications
- Beattie P E, Lewis-Jones M S. An audit of the impact of a consultation with a paediatric dermatology team on quality of life in infants with atopic eczema and their families: further validation of the Infants’ Dermatitis Quality of Life Index and Dermatitis Family Impact Score. Br J Dermatol 2006; 155: 1249-1255.
- Dodington SR, Basra MK, Finlay AY, Salek MS. The Dermatitis Family Impact questionnaire: a review of its measurement properties and clinical application. Br J Dermatol 2013; 169: 31-46.
Contact us
If you have any questions, or you have feedback on our web pages, please get in touch.
General queries and feedback
Dr. Faraz Ali
Dermatology Quality of Life Administrator
Financial, contractual or student enquiries
Joy Hayes
Licencing enquiries
Technology Transfer office
If you need to contact Professor Finlay
Professor Andrew Finlay
We offer a range of postgraduate dermatology courses, delivered both on site in Cardiff and online for distance-learning.
