Child and parent perspectives of life quality of children with physical impairments compared with non-disabled peers

• Published in: Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy
• Main Authors: Ólafsdóttir, Linda Björk, Egilson, Snæfrídur Thóra, Árnadóttir, Unnur, Hardonk, Stefan C.
• Other Authors: Centre for Disability Studies (UI), Rannsóknasetur í fötlunarfræðum (HÍ), School of Social Sciences (UI), Félagsvísindasvið (HÍ), Háskóli Íslands, University of Iceland
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Informa UK Limited 2018
• Subjects: Children; KIDSCREEN-27; Life quality; Physical impairment; Self- and proxy report; Lífsgæði; Börn; Líkamleg fötlun; Iceland
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/1580; https://doi.org/10.1080/11038128.2018.1509371

Publisher's version (útgefin grein). Background: Life quality has become a widely used concept within rehabilitation and occupational therapy practice. Aim: This study explored child and parent perspectives of life quality of children with physical impairments compared with a group of non-disabled children. Method: Data were collected with the Icelandic self- and proxy-reported versions of the KIDSCREEN-27. For children with physical impairments, reports from 34 children and 40 parents were included in the analyses, and in control group reports from 429 children and 450 parents were included. Results: Children with physical impairments evaluated their life quality within the average range on four out of five life quality dimensions. The lowest scores were within the physical well-being dimension. Self-reported scores of children with physical impairments were higher than those of their parents on all dimensions except autonomy and parent relations. Thus, the parents considered more environmental and personal factors to negatively influence their child’s life quality than children did themselves. Conclusion: Children with physical impairments experience their life quality similarly to non-disabled children. Significance: Focus on life quality can help occupational therapists to identify what circumstances positively or negatively influence client well-being and to focus more on contextual factors that contribute to disablement. We would like to thank the families who participated in the study. We would also like to thank Professor Barbara E Gibson at the University of Toronto who contributed to the research. The study was supported by the Icelandic Research Fund under Grant number 174299-051; and the Doctoral Grants of The University of Iceland Research Fund. Peer Reviewed