This joint study conducted by the Montreal Children’s Hospital and McGill University is designed to identify factors perceived by adolescents with cerebral palsy (CP) to be associated with their quality of life. A secondary objective is to identify how parents perceive CP to have influenced their child’s life quality.
To date few studies have described quality of life in adolescents with CP. Adolescents, ages 12-18, are therefore asked to reflect upon and identify the factors associated with their well-being and overall satisfaction with life. Interviews and parental focus groups are currently underway and are designed to further understand how intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as personality, disability, peer & family relations, and environment impact the adolescent’s quality of life and how they perceive these interactions. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is the model used as the theoretical framework. Evidence is needed on both objective and subjective perspectives in order to evaluate the effectiveness of our health services across systems of support related to this population.
Funded by the McGill University Health Center, this project aims to enhance planning in health promotion strategies and resource needs in the future for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy. It presents the possibility of identifying variables that relate to and could alter interventions, thereby setting the stage for the development of health promotion initiatives to optimize the Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL) in this vulnerable population.
For more information, please contact lucy.lach [at] mcgill.ca (Lucy Lach)