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Generic Quality of Life Measures for Children and Adolescents

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Handbook of Disease Burdens and Quality of Life Measures

Abstract:

The purpose of this chapter was to review generic measures of child and adolescent (ages 18 or less) quality of life (QOL) that have been applied in at least two populations (e.g., age groups, nationalities, etc.) and have yielded strong psychometric properties. The chapter begins with a discussion regarding the relevance of quality of life measurement to health care. Next, we briefly review the challenges associated with QOL measurement in general followed by multidimensional measures that have been applied to various general (i.e., non-clinical) samples. Multidimensional measures were chosen for this review because they gather important information across a number of life domains. For example, understanding the contribution of environmental factors to an adolescent’s behavioral, cognitive, and overall health functioning is critical to understanding human development In this regard, multidimensional QOL measures can help assess the potential influence of various proximal (e.g., quality of school experiences) and distal factors (e.g., quality of neighborhood environment) on life quality among youth.

The measures in this review are classified into two categories: (1) those that contain both objective and subjective QOL indicators, and (2) those comprised of subjective QOL measures only. Specifically, we review the Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale-School Version (ComQOL-S5: Cummins, 1997), the Quality of Life Profile-Adolescent Version (QOLPAV: Raphael et al., 1996), the Youth Quality of Life (YQOL: Edwards et al., 2002; Patrick et al., 2002), and the Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS: Huebner, 1994). Lastly, we recommend some suggestions for future research in youth QOL measurement, including promising efforts to use QOL as one overall index of well-being.

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Abbreviations

BASC 2:

behavior assessment system for children-second edition

CWI:

child and youth well-being index

CHIP-AE:

child health and illness profile

CHQ-CF80:

child health questionnaire-child form

CHQ-PF50:

child health questionnaire-parent form

CDI:

children’s depression inventory

ComQOL-S5:

comprehensive quality of life scale-school version

CADS-A:

conners’ auxiliary adhd/dsm iv instrument

FDI:

functional disability inventory

GCQ:

generic children’s quality of life measure

KINDL:

German Munich quality of life questionnaire for children

MSLSS:

multidimensional students’ life satisfaction scale

PedsQL:

pediatric quality of life inventory

PWI-SC:

personal well-being index-school children

QOL:

quality of life

QOLPAV:

quality of life profile-adolescent version

SF-36:

short form

SF-12:

short form-12 health survey

SIP:

sickness impact profile

TedQL:

teddy quality of life

C-QOL:

the quality of life measure for children

YQOL:

youth quality of life

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Medicine School of Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

    K. J. Zullig

Authors
  1. K. J. Zullig
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  2. M. R. Matthews
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  3. R. Gilman
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  4. R. F. Valois
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  5. E. S. Huebner
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Nutrition and Dietetics Nutritional Sciences Research Division School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, King's College London, Franklin‐Wilkins Building 150 Stamford Street, SE1 9NH, London, UK

    Victor R. Preedy (Prof.) (Prof.)

  2. Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Health Science Center 1295 N. Martin, P.O. Box 245155, 85724-5155, Tucson, AZ

    Ronald R. Watson (Prof.) (Prof.)

Appendix   A

Appendix   A

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Zullig, K.J., Matthews, M.R., Gilman, R., Valois, R.F., Huebner, E.S. (2010). Generic Quality of Life Measures for Children and Adolescents. In: Preedy, V.R., Watson, R.R. (eds) Handbook of Disease Burdens and Quality of Life Measures. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78665-0_142

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78665-0_142

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