How Do you Focus on Quality of Life When Kids Cannot Go to School or Outside?

Abstract

Purpose of review: This paper seeks to explore the definitions of quality of life and its application to pediatric research and clinical practice. This paper also highlights some of the imperfections in evaluating patient-reported outcomes designed to measure quality of life in pediatrics. Additionally, this paper explores some of the unique challenges in promoting quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recent findings: There are numerous different measurement scales to examine quality of life in children of different ages, and with a variety of disease states.

Summary: Despite the number of quality of life measurement tools, not every patient population has a validated measure, including patients with palliative care needs. There is no consensus on how to incorporate findings from patient-reported outcomes into clinical practice recommendations. Professional organizations offer guidance and resources for families to encourage focus on quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.