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Health-related quality of life of “left-behind children”: a cross-sectional survey in rural China

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Abstract

Purpose

To estimate the prevalence of children in rural China without constant parental guardians (i.e., “left-behind”), to examine whether left-behind children were associated with lower health-related quality of life (HRQOL) than their counterparts (“non-left-behind”) .

Methods

A stratified two-stage cluster survey was conducted among 640 children aged between 8 and 14 in a county of Shandong province. HRQOL was assessed in 606 participants using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL).

Results

The estimated prevalence of left-behind children in the area was estimated at 53.5% (324/606). The mean PedsQL total scores were lower in the left-behind children than the non-left-behind (84.1 vs. 88.4; P < 0.01), as were psychosocial summary, emotional functioning, social functioning and school performance scores, while mean physical subscale scores did not differ significantly (85.4 vs. 86.2; P = 0.31). As age, education level and economic status increased, HRQOL of the children was significantly improved.

Conclusions

Left-behind children report poorer HRQOL than non-left-behind children due to psychosocial dysfunction. An assessment of such problems is essential to estimate the need of rural children, for the identification of those at particular risk for lower quality of life, and for planning and implementation of appropriate health interventions.

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Abbreviations

PedsQL:

Pediatric quality of life inventory

HRQOL:

Health-related quality of life

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge all the children who had participated in the study. Mrs. Zhang devoted a lot to the data collection. Prof. Guanghui Deng from the Psychological Dept. supervised the process of making the questionnaire. Prof. Jian Lu, Xiuqiang Ma and Xiaofei Ye from the health statistics Dept. gave much precious statistical counseling. Our thanks also go to Xu Wang, Qing Tong, for their critical reading of the article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Service, Second Military Medical University, 800 Xiangyin Road, 200433, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Zhaobao Jia & Wenhua Tian

  2. Department of Health Systems Management, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, 1440 Canal St., Suite 1900, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Lizheng Shi & James Delancey

  3. Department of Health Statistics, Second Military Medical University, 800 Xiangyin Road, 200433, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Yang Cao

Authors
  1. Zhaobao Jia
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  2. Lizheng Shi
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  3. Yang Cao
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  4. James Delancey
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  5. Wenhua Tian
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Correspondence to Wenhua Tian.

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Jia, Z., Shi, L., Cao, Y. et al. Health-related quality of life of “left-behind children”: a cross-sectional survey in rural China. Qual Life Res 19, 775–780 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-010-9638-0

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