Quality of life of toddlers in Croatia

Background
The quality of life (QoL) of children is an increasingly common subject of research, and for its assessment, many use the pediatric quality of life inventory generic core scale (PedsQL™) questionnaires to assess the QoL of pediatric respondents. Previous research has largely focused on assessing the QoL of children older than 4 years of age; however, there has not been sufficient research conducted for the younger population.

Objectives
The aim of this work was to determine how parents assess the QoL of their healthy children aged 2 to 4 years.

Material and methods
A total of 200 parents participated whose children are in kindergartens in Croatia and who, for the purposes of the research, had filled out the PedsQL™ questionnaire. The data was first descriptively analyzed. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Possible correlations between individual PedsQL™ scales (physical, emotional, social and psychosocial functioning and kindergarten functioning) and the total QoL were analyzed.

Results
The mean score on the PedsQL™ scale is between 73.17 and 85.47, with a total QoL score of 81.93. All PedsQL™ scales showed satisfactory reliability with Cronbach’s alpha ranging from 0.70 to 0.79. A statistically significant correlation was established between each individual PedsQL™ scale and the total QoL score, and this was between 0.63 and 0.89 (p < 0.05).

Conclusions
The Croatian version of the PedsQL™ questionnaire is an accurate and valid measure for assessing the QoL of children aged 2 to 4 years.