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Predictors of health-related quality of life in maltreated children and adolescents

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Abstract

Purpose

Research on the consequences of child maltreatment has primarily focused on behavior and mental health; the children’s overall well-being has not received the same attention. A number of studies have investigated health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among victims of child maltreatment, but there is still a lack of knowledge about predictors of HRQoL in maltreated children and adolescents. This study seeks to bridge the gap by drawing data from the German multi-site study Child Abuse and Neglect Case-Management (CANMANAGE).

Methods

Parents or caregivers of 350 children and adolescents completed a proxy version of the Kidscreen-10-Index, a multidimensional instrument measuring child HRQoL. An additional 249 children age 8 years and older completed a self-report version. Multiple regression analyses were performed to identify potential predictors for both self- and proxy-rated HRQoL.

Results

Comparisons with the reference group revealed a significantly lower mean proxy-rated HRQoL, the self-rated HRQoL of the study sample was not significantly impaired. Predictors of impaired self-reported HRQoL were older age, self-reported posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and self-reported emotional and behavioral symptoms. Predictors of impaired proxy-reported HRQoL again were older age, self-reported PTSS, and emotional and behavioral symptoms in the child/adolescent, as reported by the caregiver, as well as low socioeconomic status. Multivariate analysis explained 20% and 38% of the variability in self-reported and proxy-rated HRQoL, respectively.

Conclusions

It is important to treat PTSS and emotional and behavioral symptoms in maltreated children, as these two phenomena are strong cross-sectional predictors of a child’s HRQoL. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapies are one possible option to address the needs of such children.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to especially thank the CANMANAGE Study Team for data collection.

Funding

All data used for this publication were assessed within the CANMANAGE project that was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Grant Number 01KR1202A).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Child Protection Group, University Children’s Hospital Zurich, Steinwiesstrasse 75, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland

    Sabine Weber & Andreas Jud

  2. School of Social Work, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, Switzerland

    Andreas Jud

  3. Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, University Children’s Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Markus A. Landolt

  4. Division of Child and Adolescent Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Markus A. Landolt

  5. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy, Medical Centre, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany

    Lutz Goldbeck

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  1. Sabine Weber
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  2. Andreas Jud
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Correspondence to Sabine Weber.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Weber, S., Jud, A., Landolt, M.A. et al. Predictors of health-related quality of life in maltreated children and adolescents. Qual Life Res 26, 2717–2727 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-017-1615-4

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