Self-perceived quality of life for adolescents in Taiwan

Hui-Yi WANG, Sing Kai LO, Shwn-Jen LEE, Ya-Ling TENG, Chiao-Yu SHIH, Jau-Hong LIN

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Abstract

Background and purposes: Adolescence is a critical age for resisting many preventable health problems and impairments, which may happen in their future. A better understanding of the quality of life (QoL) of adolescents is of special relevance in clinical health care, because QoL in this period forms the basis for health and QoL in adulthood. A disease-free sample of adolescent population is useful for serving as a reference group and offers norm-referenced QoL values for studies on specific populations to compare with. The study purpose was to describe the current self-perceived QoL of healthy adolescents in Taiwan. Specific objectives were to examine the association between QoL, gender, age, and area of habitation. Methods: A total of 1477 adolescents (53.2% boys), aged 10~18 years (mean 14.0 ± 2.4), participated in the study. They were recruited by convenience sampling from primary to high schools in the north, middle, south, and east areas of Taiwan. A multidimensional self-reported measure, the Student Version of Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale (ComQoL-S), was used. ComQoL-S is a global measure of subjective and objective QoL. Both of them consist of seven domains. The ComQoL-S scores were calculated as a percentage of the maximum score (%SM), which represents the highest positive QoL. Results: The findings showed that the overall objective and subjective QoL scores were 62.2%SM and 67.9%SM, respectively. In the objective subscale, the adolescents reported the highest scores (85.2%) in the health domain whereas the emotion domain was the lowest scores (49.5%). For subjective subscale, the highest score was in the intimacy domain (71.7%) while the lowest score was in the productivity domain (59.9%). Boys scored significantly lower than girls in several objective domains. Lower QoL scores were found in older age groups. Furthermore, lower objective score was found in participants living in the east country. In contrast, participants residing in the middle country reported significantly lower subjective QoL scores. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the multidimensional aspects of QoL among adolescents in Taiwan; different extents of variations in self-perceived QoL were observed in different genders, age groups, and resident areas. 
背景及目的:本篇的研究目的為探究目前台灣一般青少年之生活品質,並探討其與性別、年齡,及居住地域的關聯性。方法:以方便取樣的方式在台灣的北、中、南及東部地區中的國小、國中及高中學校內徵召個案,取得477名青少年(男生53.2%),年齡為0~8歲(平均4.0±2.4)。研究中使用一套自填式、可測量7個主觀性及7個客觀性生活面向的量表:「學生版綜合生活品質量表」。分數愈高表示愈有正向的生活品質。結果:總平均客觀及主觀分數分別為最高得分(SM)之62.2%及67.9%。在客觀平均分數中,最高分為「健康」面向(85.2%SM),而「情緒」面向分數為最低(49.5%SM)。在主觀面向方面,最高分為「親近」面向(7.7%),最低分為「生產力」面向(59.9%)。男生在數個客觀面向中的分數顯著地低於女生。較年長組別之分數均低於較其年幼組別的分數。此外,居住東部者之客觀分數為最低,居住中部者則有較低的主觀分數。結論:使用一套自填式、多生活面向的量表測量台灣目前青少年的生活品質情況,結果顯示在性別、年齡層以及居住地域間,參與者之自覺生活品質情況有不同程度的差異。 Copyright © 2007 社團法人臺灣物理治療學會 & Ainosco Press.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-7
JournalFormosan Journal of Physical Therapy
Volume32
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2007

Citation

Wang, H.-Y., Lo, S.-K., Lee, S.-J., Teng, Y.-L., Shih, C.-Y., & Lin, J.-H. (2007). Self-perceived quality of life for adolescents in Taiwan. Formosan Journal of Physical Therapy, 32(1), 1-7.

Keywords

  • Self-perceived quality of life
  • Taiwanese adolescents
  • Well-being
  • 自覺生活品質
  • 台灣青少年
  • 安康
  • Alt. title: 台灣青少年的自覺生活品質

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