Abstract
OBJECTIVES: In the framework of development and validation of an international EQ-5D(Child) within the EuroQoL group, the Italian team aimed to clarify the reasons of previous results (e.g. Wille et al., 2005) showing unexpected higher frequency of children reporting “sadness, unhappiness, worry” (5th EQ-5D(Child) domain). We assume that the socio-emotional sphere (friendships, school-life) is pivotal in the everyday life of children and pre-adolescents and may affect outcomes about mental sphere in quality of life surveys. METHODS: 457 children (age:8-15) were given an experimental dossier containing the EQ-5D(child), the generic instrument PedsQL as a standard for comparisons, questions asking “why you reported problems”, sub-scales concerning family, friendships and school-life. Responses from 415 valid children were analyzed to discern statistical relations between the anxiety/depression domain and socio-emotional aspects of kids’ everyday life. RESULTS: 161 children (39%) responded to be worry, sad or unhappy. Quantitative lexical analyses on the open-answers showed that “school” and “friends” are the most cited words to explain “why?”. Correlation (Spearman’s) among the PedsQL items and the 5th EQ-5D(child) dimension showed significant coefficients (p-values<0.05,), confirming a link among the feeling of being unhappy/worry/sad and the items concerning friends and schoolwork. Moreover, significant results (T-test, p-values<0.05,) showed that these children affirm significantly more than others that they, e.g. “have not fun with friends”, “have not a close friend to rely on” and, concerning the school-life, are “not glad to go to school”, “not a good pupil”. CONCLUSIONS: Feelings of sadness/unhappiness/worry are usually studied in quality of life research, especially in children. Generally this dimension give rise to unexpected high values which might be inappropriately ascribed to the health state. This contribution clarifies the role of socio-relational and scholastic spheres on the subjective perception of quality of life, improving the knowledge about QoL in children. Practical recommendations will be provided