title: Quality of life in children with psychiatric disorders: self-, parent, and clinician report.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the relationship between child psychiatric disorders and quality of life (QoL).
  
  
  METHODS
  In a sample of 310 children (ages 6-18 years) referred for psychiatric problems, children, parents, and clinicians reported on psychopathology and subjective and objective QoL indicators.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Six diagnostic categories were distinguished: attention-deficit and disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety disorders, pervasive developmental disorders, mood disorders, other disorders, and no diagnosis. In overall QoL, no differences were found between the diagnostic categories, except in clinician's ratings, who rated children with pervasive developmental disorder as having a poorer QoL than children with other diagnoses. In each diagnostic category specific QoL subdomains were affected: for children with attention-deficit and disruptive behavior disorder, school functioning and social functioning; for children with anxiety disorder, emotional functioning; for children with pervasive developmental disorder, social functioning; and for children with mood disorder, emotional functioning.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Across multiple raters, the distinguished child psychiatric disorders had a different impact on QoL. Knowledge about domains of QoL that are affected in specific child psychiatric disorders can help clinicians to focus on particular QoL domains during the diagnostic process and to define adequate treatment goals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus MC-Sophia, The Netherlands. d.bastiaansen@erasmusmc.nl
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bastiaansen
authors.forename: Hans M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Koot
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Ferdinand
authors.forename: Frank C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Verhulst
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011788:Quality of Life; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires