Last update:
16-Sep-2004

Improvements in living conditions and medical progress have resulted in reduction in infant and child mortality and in the prolongation of the lives of individuals with handicap and chronic illness. This situation has given impetus to the development of methods of estimating not only the duration, but also the quality of survival. Quality of life is multidimensional, with an objective component expressed as peoples' needs and a subjective component related to their wants or desires. The traditional socioeconomic indices of quality of life cover a part of the objective dimension, but are inadequate for the health field, and special indices of health status have been designed. The attitutes of people about their health and how it affects their life may be quite different from their doctors' observations, and because of this, special instruments have been introduced for the measurement of subjective components of health-related quality of life. At the population level, quality of life estimation is used in the assessment of population health needs and of the effects of special health policy measures. In clinical medicine, it helps in the diagnosis of the extent and severity of handicap and in the monitoring of chronic disease. It is used for assessment of the effectiveness and side effects of various therapeutic interventions, and for screening for individual psychosocial problems which can impede the therapeutic response. The choice of instruments is based on the aims and scope of the study, and their success depends on their ease of use, their validity and their sensitivity, combined with their appropriateness for the specific subjects studied and awareness of possible problems and faults. The instruments used, regardless of whether they are self-completed or filled in by an interviewer, need to take into account individual preferences and priorities and be sensitive to change. In the assessment of the quality of life of children with health problems the same principles apply. In addition attention must be paid to their ways of expressing their feelings and opinions and to the changes in priorities which are determined by the developmental stages of children. Children are capable of playing an active role in the assessment process, and should be enabled to do so, in accordance with the principles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child.

Key words: Child health, Quality of life, Well-being.