Evaluating quality of life in pediatric palliative care: a cross-sectional analysis of children's and parents' perspectives

Evaluating quality of life in pediatric palliative care: a cross-sectional analysis of children's and parents' perspectives

Toro-Perez D; Limonero JT; Guillen M; Bolance C; Vilarrubi SN; Camprodon-Rosanas E

European Journal of Pediatrics

2023

child; article; female; human; male; perception; palliative therapy; quality of life; clinical article; parent; cross-sectional study; adolescent; voice; drug therapy; nonparametric test; psychologic assessment; disease management; special situation for pharmacovigilance; sociodemographics

The patient's perspective is an essential component of understanding the individual experience of suffering in children with palliative needs, but it is a perspective that is often overlooked. The aim of this study was to compare the perception of quality of life (QoL) of children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions expressed by the children themselves and their parents. Through a cross-sectional study, the responses of 44 parent-child dyads were obtained and the analysis was performed with the statistics based on Student's t distribution and non-parametric tests. Children value QoL more positively (mean = 6.95, SD = 1.85) than their parents (mean = 5.39, SD = 2.43). This difference exists even if we consider sociodemographic and disease variables. The presence of exacerbated symptoms is the situation in which both parents (mean = 3.70; SD = 1.95) and children (mean = 5.60; SD = 1.17) evaluate QoL more negatively. Conclusions: Children have a more optimistic view than their parents. When the child is the one who reports a lower QoL score than their parent, the child should be carefully monitored. The voice of the child and that of the family members can be collected to create a "family voice" and can be complementary. What is known: • Children with life-limiting conditions experience multiple and changing symptoms that affect their QoL. • The child's perspective is often overlooked. What is new: • Children value QoL more positively than their parents do, even if we control for sociodemographic variables and the disease itself. • When the child is the one who reports a lower QoL score than their parent, the child should be carefully monitored.

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