Profile of subjective quality of life and its correlates in a nation-wide sample of high school students in an Arab setting using the WHOQOL-Bref

Abstract

BackgroundThe upsurge of interest in the quality of life (QOL) of children is in line with the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stressed the child's right to adequate circumstances for physical, mental, and social development. The study's objectives were to: (i) highlight how satisfied Kuwaiti high school students were with life circumstances as in the WHOQOL-Bref; (ii) assess the prevalence of at risk status for impaired QOL and establish the QOL domain normative values; and (iii) examine the relationship of QOL with personal, parental, and socio-environmental factors.MethodA nation-wide sample of students in senior classes in government high schools (N = 4467, 48.6% boys; aged 14-23 years) completed questionnaires that included the WHOQOL-Bref.ResultsUsing Cummins' norm of 70% - 80%, we found that, as a group, they barely achieved the well-being threshold score for physical health (70%), social relations (72.8%), environment (70.8%) and general facet (70.2%), but not for psychological health (61.9%). These scores were lower than those reported from other countries. Using the recommended cut-off of <1SD of population mean, the prevalence of at risk status for impaired QOL was 12.9% - 18.8% (population age-adjusted: 15.9% - 21.1%). In all domains, boys had significantly higher QOL than girls, mediated by anxiety/depression; while the younger ones had significantly higher QOL (p < 0.001), mediated by difficulty with studies and social relations. Although poorer QOL was significantly associated with parental divorce and father's low socio-economic status, the most important predictors of poorer QOL were perception of poor emotional relationship between the parents, poor self-esteem and difficulty with studies.ConclusionPoorer QOL seemed to reflect a circumstance of social disadvantage and poor psychosocial well-being in which girls fared worse than boys. The findings indicate that programs that address parental harmony and school programs that promote study-friendly atmospheres could help to improve psychosocial well-being. The application of QOL as a school population health measure may facilitate risk assessment and the tracking of health status.

Characteristics of subjects with comorbidity of symptoms of generalized anxiety and major depressive disorders and the corresponding threshold and subthreshold conditions in an Arab general population sample

“…When compared with the mean scores for subjects with comorbid MDD/GAD, the scores were consistently less than 1 SD of the scores for subjects without significant anxiety/depression. This is in support of the recommendation by Varni et al [85], that a QOL domain score of <1 SD population mean should indicate subjects at risk for poor QOL [81]. …”

“…First, our findings validate the recommendation that subjects at risk status for poor QOL should be judged by those with <1 SD of the score for the normal population [81,85]. Second, it could be argued that one indication of qualitative difference is that, after adjusting for scores on anxiety and depression, it was only the comorbid threshold GAD/MDD group that still had significant differences in some QOL domains, compared with the no psychopathology group.…”

“…Perceived need for psychological services (“unmet need for care”) [50] among those with MDD and GAD was assessed by their response to an item on whether they felt they needed psychological assistance from any sources (response options: ”no problem”, “need help only from friends”, “need medical/psychological help but not receiving it”, “need medical/psychological help and receiving it”) [81]. …”

Internal migration, mental health, and suicidal behaviors in young rural Chinese

“…Despite there is no recommended cutoff value for WHOQOL-BREF to discriminate between good and poor psycho-QOL, our study has the advantage of a large sample of rural residents, that is to say, we can use its score distribution to set a cutoff value (minimal standard), below which will be classified as poor psycho-QOL. One commonly used cutoff standard for poor psycho-QOL has been proposed, namely, “one SD below the mean” [39, 40]. Thus, according to this standard, a subject with a score less than one SD below the mean will be considered as having poor psycho-QOL.…”

Qualidade de vida em adolescentes com necessidades especiais em um município de pernambuco

“…Em estudo realizado no Paraná (19) analisando o domínio meio ambiente da QV de 608 adolescentes escolares, foi constatado como ponto vulnerável o grupo dos adolescentes do gênero feminino, uma vez que estes possuem maior tendência a problemas psicológicos, como depressão e ansiedade, além de possuírem menor resistência física. Um estudo no Kuwait com 4.467 adolescentes nas escolas constatou que as meninas possuem menor percepção da QV no domínio psicológico, sugerindo que programas escolares em ambientes de estudo amigáveis podem ajudar a promover uma melhor percepção no domínio psicológico, diminuindo os sintomas de ansiedade e depressão comuns entre as meninas (27) . Percebeu-se que a maioria dos alunos com deficiência pesquisados estava inserida em salas com alunos que não possuíam deficiências, ou seja, salas regulares.…”