Cross-Cultural Validation of Health and Quality of Life Measures for Children in Hong Kong.
Hiu Lam Helen Sze, Cheuk Lam Beanie Fung, Pui Pui Phoebe Cheung and 4 others
PMID 36249579WHAT IT FOUND
Children with special educational needs reported lower quality of life than peers, particularly in physical and social functioning.
Parents generally agreed with their children's views, except for school performance, where parents rated it lower.
Key findings
01Children with special educational needs reported significantly lower quality of life than typically developing peers in physical, social, and school functioning domains.
02The internal consistency of the school functioning subscale was poor for children with special educational needs, suggesting the items may not reliably measure this aspect of quality of life in this group.
03Parents and children generally agreed on quality of life scores, but in the special educational needs group, parents reported lower school functioning than the children did.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small (21 children with special educational needs), which limits the statistical power and generalizability of the findings. Data collection methods differed between groups (face-to-face for SEN, online/paper for TD), which may have influenced the results. The school functioning subscale showed poor reliability for children with special educational needs, meaning scores in this area should be interpreted with caution. Convenience sampling was used for the SEN group, so the participants may not represent the broader population of children with special educational needs.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was approved by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Ethics Committee.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the 'school functioning' score is a valid measure of quality of life for children with special educational needs. The study found this subscale had poor internal consistency for this group, possibly because the questions overlap with symptoms of conditions like ADHD rather than reflecting the child's actual well-being in school.