PERSPECTIVES
Qol assessment
No pain, no gain? Integrating QoL assessment in paediatrics
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Christine Eiser
Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TP, UK; c.eiser@sheffield.ac.uk
Perspective on the paper by de Wit et al (see page434)
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The arguments for assessing health-related quality of life (QoL) in children undergoing medical treatment are persuasive. Consideration of QoL places the child at the centre of the assessment, and emphasises the autonomy of the family in decision-making. Over-reliance on physiological indices neglects the important question of how illness or treatment impacts on children’s own ratings of their health or well-being. However, assessment of QoL, especially in paediatrics, has proved challenging, and there remain many questions about whether or not it is possible to measure a concept as subjective as QoL, and indeed what could be gained beyond the traditional assessment of outcomes. Perhaps any new undertaking is inevitably associated with considerable pain. It seems timely to assess whether the anticipated gains (increased awareness of children’s views and improved communication) have been achieved. This is not a comprehensive review of the literature, but where possible, arguments are illustrated from
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