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The item response theory in the development of children’s
quality of life assessment instruments and data analysis
Verdugo, M.A., Sabeh, E.N. and Prieto, G.
Institute on Community Integration
University of Salamanca
www.usal.es/inico
Introduction
Method
The past years have seen a considerable increase in theoretical
and empirical research on the well-being of different population
groups. Children’s quality of life, however, remains a topic in need
of further development. The literature review related of this field
suggests that:
 A qualitative study where children informed about their
subjective experiences let us define a quality of life model.
• There is little research compared with adults studies.
 Based on the core domains of the model, we designed items for
two assessment instruments of quality of life: the CVI
(a questionnaire for children from 8 to 11) and the CVIP
(a
parents questionnaire).
• Most works come from the paediatric field, within a health
approach.
 Psychometric characteristics of CVI and CVIP were studied
using the Item Response Theory Model (IRT).
• There is a lack empirically based models that set core dimensions
and indicators of quality of life during childhood.
 Participants were 713 children form Tucumán, Argentina, 16%
of whom were identified by teachers as students with special
needs, and 477 parents.
• Few instruments have been designed until now to measure
children`s quality of life.
 Quality of life level was analysed using the IRT, including the
study of differences between groups according to personal,
family and social variables.
• We have little information about variables related to different
levels of well-being in this group.
Results
The domains identified for a children’s quality of life model were: emotional well-being, physical well-being, interpersonal relationships, personal
development and activities, and material well-being. Reliability of questionnaires is very high: 0.98 for CVI and 0.96 for CVIP. Instruments also
showed to be valid. Quality of life for children was good. Differences were found between children with and without special needs, having a
worse quality of life those with special needs. There were also differences according to families socio-economic level.
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Children’s quality of life model
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Results of
children’s
quality of
life with
CVI,
using the
IRT model
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5.0
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Results of
children’s
quality of
life with
CVIP,
using the
IRT model
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Discussion
Conclusions
The study of children’s quality of life is not an easy task, due to the
limited development of this field, and to problems in the evaluation
of subjective perceptions during childhood.
 Children can communicate aspects of their quality of life from
their own perspective.
Nevertheless, this study shows that it is possible to get reliable
information about quality of life experiences from the own child’s
perspective. This perspective indicates, as many other studies on
adults, that children perceive their quality of life as good, showing
some differences depending on the socio-economic level of families
and the presence of special needs.
Using the item response theory in the development and analyses of
quality of life instruments for children is an innovative approach that
have many advantages, and that should continue to be studied.
 The model of quality of life proposed and the instruments
developed can be useful for future research on children’s
quality of life.
 Item response theory is a useful approach to construct quality
of life assessment instruments and to analyse data. It gives
strong measures, based on solid principles of measurement.
 Differences between children with and without special needs
challenge us to continue working to improve their quality of life.
 Differences between children according to the family socioeconomic level indicate the importance of social variables on
the perception of well-being in children, particularly in countries
with development and social problems.
References
1. Schalock, R. L. (1996). The quality of children’s lives. In A. H. Fine and N.M. Fine (Eds..), Therapeutic recreation for exceptional children: Let me in, I want to play (2nd ed., pp.
83-94). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
2. Schalock, R.L. and Verdugo. M.A. (2002). Handbook on Quality of life for Human Service Practitioners. Washington, DC: American Association on Mental Retardation.
2. Verdugo, M.A. and Sabeh, E.N. (2002). Evaluación de la percepción de calidad de vida en la infancia. Psicothema, 14(1), 86-91.