Citation

Haraldstad K, Christophersen KA, Eide H, Nativg GK, Helseth S. J. Clin. Nurs. 2011; 20(21-22): 3048-3056.

Affiliation

Authors: Kristin Haraldstad, MSc, RN, PhD Student, Oslo University College, Faculty of Nursing, Oslo and Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Bergen; Knut-Andreas Christophersen, MSc, Statistician, Institute of Political Science, University of Oslo, Oslo; Hilde Eide, PhD, RN, Oslo University College, Faculty of Nursing, Oslo; Gerd K Nativg, PhD, RN, Professor, Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Bergen; Sølvi Helseth, PhD, RN, Professor, Oslo University College, Faculty of Nursing, Oslo, Norway.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03693.x

PMID

21320221

Abstract

Aim.  The aim is to study the health-related quality of life in a school sample of children and adolescents aged 8-18 years and to examine the relationship between health-related quality of life and the following variables; age, gender, perceived pain, body image, body mass index and bullying. Background.  The study of health-related quality of life in children and adolescents have received little attention compared with adults in health care research and still little is known about the associations between health-related quality of life and other variables. Design.  A cross-sectional design was chosen. Method.  We measured the health-related quality of life using the generic questionnaire KIDSCREEN-10. We administered the KIDSCREEN 52-item, and the 10 items were selected from this according to the KIDSCREEN manual. Multilevel regression models were used to evaluate the associations between health-related quality of life and the independent variables. Results.  The sample included 1066 children and adolescents, 576 girls and 490 boys, with a response rate of 74%. The results show that body mass index was not significant associated with health-related quality of life in full model. However, in addition to age, being bullied, pain and body image were significant associated with health-related quality of life. Of these predictors, body image has the strongest impact in terms of explained variance in health-related quality of life. Conclusion.  The subjective sense of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with one's body, perceived body image, is a powerful predictor of health-related quality of life. Relevance to clinical practice.  Knowledge about predictors of health-related quality of life is especially important for public health nurses. Health promotion and intervention programmes that aim to strengthen psychosocial well-being, especially those that strengthen body image, should be developed for both genders.

Language: en