Abstract
BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a period of life with its own unique characteristics.
OBJECTIVES: To provide an in-depth understanding of the impact of skin disease on different aspects of adolescents' health-related quality of life (HRQoL).
METHODS: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with a sample of dermatology patients between 12 and 19 years of age, attending the dermatology outpatient clinic of a secondary referral centre. Participants were invited to talk in detail about all the ways their lives had been affected by their skin disease. Interviews were transcribed verbatim.
RESULTS: Thirty-two adolescents (males = 10, females = 22) with a mean age of 15.7 years (range = 12-18 years) participated in the interviews. Twenty-eight HRQoL themes adversely affected by skin diseases were identified from the interviews which were grouped under 6 main HRQoL domains - psychological impact (91% of patients), physical impact (81%), social impact (81%), impact on lifestyle (63%), need for support (41%) and education and employment (34%). The number of HRQoL themes affected in each individual varied between 1 and 23 (mean = 8.1).
CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study revealed the extent and nature of the impact of skin diseases on adolescents' HRQoL. A number of issues identified were specific to adolescents, highlighting the need for specific HRQoL assessment.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 357-66 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Dermatology in Practice |
| Volume | 218 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 |
Keywords
- Adolescent
- Adolescent Behavior
- Child
- Female
- Humans
- Interpersonal Relations
- Male
- Psychology, Adolescent
- Quality of Life
- Skin Diseases/psychology
- Social Support
- Young Adult