The Quality of Life Profile--Adolescent Version: background, description, and initial validation

Area of Science:

• Adolescent Health
• Quality of Life Research
• Psychometric Instrumentation

Background:

• Adolescent health is increasingly viewed through a quality of life lens.
• Understanding adolescent functioning requires a multidimensional approach.
• Existing instruments may not fully capture the complexities of adolescent well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new instrument to measure quality of life in adolescents.
• To assess adolescent functioning across the domains of being, belonging, and becoming.
• To provide a tool for understanding the broader aspects of adolescent health.

Main Methods:

• Development of the 54-item Quality of Life Profile: Adolescent Version (QOLPAV).
• Adolescents rated items for importance and satisfaction.
• Administration of QOLPAV to 160 Canadian adolescents alongside other functioning measures.

Main Results:

• The QOLPAV demonstrated reliable scores.
• QOLPAV scores correlated with adolescent personality traits.
• Scores showed associations with self-reported health status and substance use (tobacco, alcohol).

Conclusions:

• The QOLPAV shows potential for assessing adolescent coping and functioning.
• The instrument can help identify service needs for adolescents.
• Further validation may enable its use in evaluating health interventions and treatment effects.