Health-related quality of life reported by French adolescents: a predictive approach of health status?

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the relevance of a self-administered multidimensional instrument to the discrimination of illness and health among adolescents in South-eastern France.

Methods: We show the results of a self-reported HRQL assessment by the Vécu et Santé Perçue de l'Adolescent (VSP-A) multidimensional questionnaire, conducted on a population of 3061 adolescents. The VSP-A produces a score for each of the seven dimensions (relationships with friends, relationships with parents, school life, inaction, psychological distress, future, and energy/vitality) and a global score. The result is compared with the answers of the parents to the same multidimensional HRQL questionnaire reworded for them (VSP-P) and to the perceived health self-reported by the adolescents on a visual analogue scale (VAS). The adolescents filled both the VSP-A and VAS questionnaires twice at a 1-month interval.

Results: A total of 2941 adolescents completed the questionnaire correctly, and 1760 VSP-P questionnaires were filled out by their parents. The global HRQL score as well as the dimension scores from the parents' assessment were significantly different from those of the adolescents. At the inception, using three approaches (self-reported VAS, VSP-A, and VSP-P), it was possible to discriminate between ill and healthy adolescents. Nevertheless, the VSP-A completed at the inception is the only of the three approaches that can point out the adolescents who will become ill during the following month. Furthermore, the results reported by VSP-A largely agree with literature.

Conclusion: The VSP-A could provide a comprehensive approach of HRQL of young people in both health prevention and the health care system.