Abstract

QUALITY OF LIFE, MEASUREMENT TOOLS ON PAEDIATRIC QUALITY OF LIFE WITH A SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CHILDREN WITH HIV INFECTION – A REVIEW

Prof. Prabhavathi Srinivasan* and Prof. Nalini Jayavanth Santha

Abstract

WHO conceptualizes the quality of life as The degree to which a person enjoys the important possibilities of his or her life. Possibilities result from the opportunities and limitations each person has in his/her life and reflect the interaction of personal and environmental factors. The assessment of quality of life requires an expansive knowledge on various dimensions of quality of life. The assessment of the quality of life of pediatric population is furthermore a tedious process since it depends on the developmental stage of the children, health status, self perception and parental perception and its expression in their physical functioning, psychosocial functioning, play activities, school functioning etc. Although there are many studies been carried out in various aspects of paediatric population, the assessment of quality of children is found to be an neglected area of research. Especially to assess the quality of life of children with HIV infection a generic scale or a modified version of scales measuring any other chronic disorders were only used.

Keywords: paediatric quality of life, quality of life theories, quality of life models, Measurement tools, children with HIV infection.