the quality of life of a multidiagnosis group of special needs children associations and costs生活质量multidiagnosis群特殊需要儿童的协会和成本.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation International Journal of Pediatrics Volume 2010, Article ID 940101, 13 pages doi:10.1155/2010/940101 Clinical Study The Quality of Life of a Multidiagnosis Group of Special Needs Children: Associations and Costs Sandy Thurston,1 Louise Paul,1 Patricia Loney,2 Maria Wong,2 and Gina Browne2 1 Children’s Treatment Network, Simcoe/York, ON, Canada L4M 2Y1 2 System-Linked Research Unit on Health and Social Service Utilization, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8P 0A1 Correspondence should be addressed to Gina Browne, browneg@mcmaster.ca Received 18 November 2009; Accepted 24 February 2010 Academic Editor: Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta Copyright © 2010 Sandy Thurston et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Purpose. To determine the quality of life, associations, and costs of a multidiagnosis group of special needs children. Methods. In this cross-sectional survey families were identified from the Children’s Treatment Network, a Canadian multisector program for children with special needs. Families were eligible if the child was aged 2–19 years, resided in Simcoe/York, and if there were multiple child/family needs. Quality of life was measured using the PedsQL (n = 429). Results. Quality of life scores were lower in this group compared to published healthy and single disorder groups of children. Quality of life scores decreased with advancing age. Child psychosocial well-being was more strongly associated with child/family variables compared to physical well-being. Health Utilization costs were higher in children wit