This book introduces the reader to the emerging field of quality of life assessment and provides a comprehensive overview of the conceptual and methodological issues concerning quality of life in child and adolescent illness.

How can we measure the quality of life in children and adolescents with chronic disease? Major progress in the diagnosis and treatment of severe and chronic disease has led to an increased number of children and their families having to adapt and cope with the impact of disease, survival, and the cost of treatment. Health professionals have responded to this by developing a diversity of instruments for measuring quality of life for use in paediatrics, psychology and public health. This book introduces the reader to the emerging field of quality of life assessment and provides a comprehensive overview of the conceptual and methodological issues concerning quality of life in child and adolescent illness. Particular emphasis is provided on current efforts to measure the impact of specific chronic conditions on different domains of child functioning. Future directions are outlined for the development of appropriate instruments for measuring quality of life in children and adolescents. Quality of Life in Child and Adolescent Illness is intended for psychologists, paediatricians, paediatric nurses, child psychiatrists, public health professionals, researchers and other interested readers from the undergraduate to the working professional.

In this volume the contributors examine the relationship between quality of life and disabilities with psychosocial concepts like well-being, life satisfaction, difficulties and events and social adjustments in patients with mental disorders.

More children born today will survive to adulthood than at any time in history. It is now time to emphasize health and development in middle childhood and adolescence--developmental phases that are critical to health in adulthood and the next generation. Child and Adolescent Health and Development explores the benefits that accrue from sustained and targeted interventions across the first two decades of life. The volume outlines the investment case for effective, costed, and scalable interventions for low-resource settings, emphasizing the cross-sectoral role of education. This evidence base can guide policy makers in prioritizing actions to promote survival, health, cognition, and physical growth throughout childhood and adolescence.

Children's health has clearly improved over the past several decades. Significant and positive gains have been made in lowering rates of infant mortality and morbidity from infectious diseases and accidental causes, improved access to health care, and reduction in the effects of environmental contaminants such as lead. Yet major questions still remain about how to assess the status of children's health, what factors should be monitored, and the appropriate measurement tools that should be used. Children's Health, the Nation's Wealth: Assessing and Improving Child Health provides a detailed examination of the information about children's health that is needed to help policy makers and program providers at the federal, state, and local levels. In order to improve children's health-and, thus, the health of future generations-it is critical to have data that can be used to assess both current conditions and possible future threats to children's health. This compelling book describes what is known about the health of children and what is needed to expand the knowledge. By strategically improving the health of children, we ensure healthier future generations to come.

Adolescence is a time of major transition, however, health care services in the United States today are not designed to help young people develop healthy routines, behaviors, and relationships that they can carry into their adult lives. While most adolescents at this stage of life are thriving, many of them have difficulty gaining access to necessary services; other engage in risky behaviors that can jeopardize their health during these formative years and also contribute to poor health outcomes in adulthood. Missed opportunities for disease prevention and health promotion are two major problematic features of our nation's health services system for adolescents. Recognizing that health care providers play an important role in fostering healthy behaviors among adolescents, Adolescent Health Services examines the health status of adolescents and reviews the separate and uncoordinated programs and services delivered in multiple public and private health care settings. The book provides guidance to administrators in public and private health care agencies, health care workers, guidance counselors, parents, school administrators, and policy makers on investing in, strengthening, and improving an integrated health system for adolescents.

Children and Their Families: The Continuum of Care provides a unique interdisciplinary perspective that underscores the nurse's role in planning, coordinating, and working with all members of a pediatric health care team. It shows students how to make critical judgments and assessments to manage the care of children in a variety of community settings, including homes, schools, and medical centers. From infancy through adolescence, this text thoroughly covers the health promotion, surveillance, and maintenance needs of children. In this edition, threaded case studies follow a community of pediatric clients and continue throughout the chapter to show the interrelated dynamics of pediatric nursing care. A companion Website includes journal articles, NCLEX®-style chapter review questions, a Spanish-English audio glossary, Watch and Learn videos, a fluids and electrolytes tutorial, and much more.

The term Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is used to describe a group of children who have difficulty. with tasks involving movement such that it interferes with their daily living or academic progress. As with other developmental disorders such as autistic spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder and dyslexia, DCD is now a prominent concern of both researchers and practitioners. This text is aimed at both researchers and professionals who work in a practical manner with the condition and includes professionals in health, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, health visitors, paediatricians, and - in the educational field - teachers and others who are in daily contact with the children - their parents. The essence of the text is that work with children should be guided by research evidence driving the clinical practice which in turn raisies more questions for research. The authors in this text have both experience in research and are engaged in the day-to-day clinical work with children and bring both of these to bear in the chapters they have written.

This volume's purpose is to describe concepts and methods concerning assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children and adolescents with a special focus on chronic health conditions. The impetus for this book came from a recognition of the increasing importance of HRQOL assessments in the evaluation of treatment outcomes and the need to increase the utilization of HRQOL assessments in research and clinical applications with a range of pediatric populations. The need to develop a volume that describes new research and clinical applications concerning this topic stemmed from several recent developments. There is a continuing need for evaluations of the efficacy of medical treatments for children and adolescents, including those with chronic health conditions. To address these critical unmet needs in the field of HRQOL assessment, and to advance scientific methods and clinical applications in this field, a conference was held at Case Western Reserve University. The conference set out to summarize current information concerning the development and implementation of measures of HRQOL assessment, to identify and consider key conceptual and methodological issues in research concerning the measurement of HRQOL, and to recommend priorities to advance the state-of-the-art in research and clinical applications of QOL assessment in children and adolescents with chronic health conditions. This volume summarizes and synthesizes the information that was presented by the conference participants in a series of lively discussions and chapters that were based on the presentations.