Fabien Bacro

Quelle conception de la qualité de vie et du bien-être chez des enfants de 5 à 11 ans ?

L’objectif de cette etude est d’analyser comment les enfants âges de 5 a 11 ans concoivent leur qualite de vie a travers les dimensions contribuant a leur bien-etre et si cette conception varie en fonction de l’âge. Pour recueillir leur point de vue, des groupes thematiques focus groups ont ete organises aupres de 161 eleves âges de 5 a 11 ans scolarises dans 4 ecoles differentes, de la Grande Section de Maternelle (GSM) au Cours Moyen deuxieme annee (CM2). Les resultats montrent que les relations familiales et paritaires, les loisirs et l’environnement scolaire occupent une place importante dans la vie des enfants. On observe egalement que la conception qu’ils ont de leur bien-etre evolue avec l’âge, le developpement de leur autonomie, de leurs capacites cognitives et de leurs preoccupations societales.

Validation of a French adaptation of the Multidimensional Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale in its abbreviated form, for 5- to 11-year-old children with and without intellectual disability

ABSTRACT Background: The quality of life (QOL) of children with and without intellectual disability (ID) has become a growing concern in the literature but the QOL instruments are not adapted for use with young children and children with ID. The objective of this study was to validate a French adaptation of the abbreviated form of the Multidimensional Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS). Method: Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the data collected from 411 children aged between 5 and 11 years old. Internal consistency, test–retest fidelity, and convergent validity were tested. Results: The preliminary results of this study show that the model fitted the data collected to assess the life satisfaction of children, χ2 (395) = 705.340; p < .001; CFI = 0.911; TLI = 0.902; RMSEA = 0.044. Very good levels of internal consistency were obtained for both children with and without ID, with coefficients ranging from 0.70 to 0.88. The test–retest coefficients calculated after a 2-week interval highlighted a moderate (coefficients lower than 0.70) to weak temporal stability, which seemed more pronounced in children with ID. Conclusion: Despite some limitations, this instrument could be very useful for childhood professionals. It will enable them to assess the perception that children have of their wellbeing in the perspective of promoting their QOL. This scale also provides researchers in psychology with the opportunity to enrich their knowledge on the QOL of children with ID.

Les parcours de placement et la qualité de vie des enfants de 6 à 11 ans accueillis dans des institutions relevant de la protection de l’enfance

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 childrens perception of their quality of life in the context of child welfare and protection, and they yielded mixed results. OBJECTIVES 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. METHOD 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 childrens 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. DISCUSSION These results are interpreted in light of attachment research and theory. Indeed, the relations between childrens 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 childrens quality of life.