Preference-based health-related quality of life among victims of bullying.
OBJECTIVE
No previous study has estimated the association between bullying and preference-based health-related quality of life (HRQoL) ("utility"), knowledge of which may be used for cost-effectiveness studies of interventions designed to prevent bullying. Therefore, the aim of the study was to estimate preference-based HRQoL among victims of bullying compared to non-victims.


METHODS
A cross-sectional survey data collection among Swedish adolescents aged 15-17 years in the first year of upper secondary school was conducted in the city of Gothenburg in Sweden (N = 758). Preference-based HRQoL was estimated with the SF-6D. Regression analyses were conducted to adjust for some individual-level background variable.


RESULTS
Mean preference-based health-related quality of life scores were 0.77 and 0.71 for non-victims and victims of bullying, respectively. The difference of 0.06 points was statistically significant (p < 0.05) and robust to inclusion of gender, age, and parental immigrant status.


CONCLUSIONS
The preference-based HRQoL estimates in this study may be used as an upper bound in economic evaluations of bullying prevention interventions, facilitating a comparison between costs and quality-adjusted life-years.
Department of Public Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden. linda.beckman@kau.se.|Department of Public Health, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden. linda.beckman@kau.se.
Linda
L
Beckman
Department of Economics, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.|Health Metrics, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Mikael
M
Svensson
Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Ann
A
Frisén
D000293:Adolescent; D058445:Bullying / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Bullying; Health-related quality of life; SF-6D; Utility scores