Quality of life self-assessment of children living in a children's home, based on own research conducted in the Podlaskie Province.

PURPOSE The purpose of the study was to diagnose the quality of life (QoL) of children brought up in children's homes, to compare findings with results for peers living in complete families. MATERIAL AND METHODS In the Stage I was to determine the usefulness of tools for QoL evaluation in a group of 120 children from children's homes in the Podlaskie Province and in a group of 120 children belonging to a control group, brought up in their own families, in the same places where the children's homes were located. Selected research tools were used in Stage II, and the study was carried out in a group of 180 children in the same children's homes and a control group. We used the following survey questionnaires: the standardised CHQ-CF87 survey, standardised KINDL survey and Children's Survey based on WHOQOL-BREF. RESULTS Significant relationship between the quality of life self-assessment and the place of being brought up for all categories of quality of life was found. A relationship was indicated between the QoL self-assessment and the place of living, age, gender, and physical condition. The charges of a children's home assessed their QoL as significantly lower compared to children living in normal families, mostly in the following categories: health, physical domain and psychological domain, social relations and the ability to function in everyday life. In KINDL survey, strong relationships were found between assessments of QoL categories. CONCLUSIONS Significant relation between QoL self-assessment and where children were brought up was found. Positive relationship between QoL self-assessment and the place of living, age, gender, and children's physical condition was found.