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抯 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抯 sex, child抯 age and
child抯 birth order.
Conclusions: There are
some limitations for Iranian children抯 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.