HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE IN IRANIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLCHILDREN

Hamid Soori

Ahwaz University of Medical Sciences, Ahwaz-Iran- P.O.Box: 61355-45

Ahwaz, Iran

 

Background: In Iran, like many other developing countries, children health information has focused on morbidity or mortality, and no attempt has been made to measure their health-related quality of life (HRQL).

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe reports of parents in a random sample of 3800 Iranian primary schoolchildren (age 6-12 years old) on 56 items taken from 7 domains of TNO AZL Child Quality Of Life (TACQOL) in winter 2000.

Methods: The questionnaire included demographic details and seven eight-item scales: physical complaints, motor functioning, autonomy, cognitive functioning, social functioning, positive emotions and negative emotions. All scales were scored from 0 to 56, with higher scores indicating better HRQL. Scale reliability was assessed with Cronbach's alpha. Reliability was greater than 0.69 for each of the short-form scales.

Results: The mean score for all domains was 33.9 (ranged from 15.1 for positive emotions to 40.32 for autonomy functioning). Significant difference was found between HRQL of children and mothers?educational attainment (P<0.01). However, no significant differences was found by child sex, child age and child birth order.

Conclusions: There are some limitations for Iranian children health-related quality of life. Children quality-of-life measurements should be considered by researchers in developing countries and become a routine part of health and medical visits.

 

 

 
0822