title: [The placement courses and the subjective quality of life of 6- to 11-year-old children living in child welfare institutions].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Besides diseases, the concept of quality of life is increasingly used to account for the consequences of other vulnerability situations that may be encountered by individuals, including young children. However, very few studies have examined children's perception of their quality of life in the context of child welfare and protection, and they yielded mixed results.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objectives of this study were (1) to compare the subjective quality of life of children placed in institution with that of children living in their families, by controlling for child sex, age, socioeconomic and familial status, and (2) to examine its relations with their placement course in the child welfare system.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample of this study was composed of 56 children aged 6 to 11, 28 of which were placed in a child welfare institution. Information about the placement course of institutionalized children was given by their social workers and the quality of life of all participants was assessed with the AUQUEI questionnaire. This self-report, which is based on children's conception of their quality of life, allows assessment of four distinct dimensions in addition to the overall score: leisure, performances, relations and family life, and separation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  According to the results, the quality of life of children placed in institutions did not differ from that of children living in their families. However, its perception was closely related to the placement course of institutionalized children in the child welfare system. Whereas maltreated children obtained lower overall and performance scores than their neglected peers, children placed in foster families before institution had a poorer perception of their quality of life in the domains of family life and separations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results are interpreted in light of attachment research and theory. Indeed, the relations between children's quality of life and their placement course could be explained by their high level of attachment disorganization. Finally, the results of this study suggested that children were well aware of their difficulties and that they can easily be identified by directly assessing the children's quality of life.
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche en éducation de Nantes, faculté de psychologie, université de Nantes, chemin de la Censive du Tertre, BP 81227, 44312 Nantes cedex 3, France. Electronic address: fabien.bacro@univ-nantes.fr.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bacro
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche en éducation de Nantes, faculté de psychologie, université de Nantes, chemin de la Censive du Tertre, BP 81227, 44312 Nantes cedex 3, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rambaud
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche en éducation de Nantes, faculté de psychologie, université de Nantes, chemin de la Censive du Tertre, BP 81227, 44312 Nantes cedex 3, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Humbert
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche en éducation de Nantes, faculté de psychologie, université de Nantes, chemin de la Censive du Tertre, BP 81227, 44312 Nantes cedex 3, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sellenet
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D002669:Child Welfare; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D005581:Foster Home Care; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization; D007899:Leisure Activities; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D019372:Orphanages; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011788:Quality of Life; D012112:Residential Facilities; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Child welfare institution; Children; Enfants; Institution; Parcours; Placement; Placement course; Quality of life; Qualité de vie