Health-related quality of life in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: Association between the PedsQL and KIDSCREEN instruments and comparison with their normative samples.
Children with DCD feel worse across every quality-of-life domain than peers or kids with other chronic illnesses, so screen early and treat the whole child, not just the motor plan.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Caçola et al. (2018) asked parents to fill out two quality-of-life surveys about their children with Developmental Coordination Disorder. The team compared the scores to norms for healthy kids and to norms for children with other long-term illnesses.
What they found
Parents rated quality of life in kids with DCD far below both typical peers and children with chronic illnesses. The gap showed up on every part of both surveys.
How this fits with other research
Chezan et al. (2019) repeated the same survey one year later and got the same grim numbers. Redondo-Tébar et al. (2021) pushed the finding younger, showing preschoolers with DCD already score low. Lee et al. (2024) widened the lens, finding the same pain spreads across the whole 3-to-18 age span and stresses the whole family.
Longo et al. (2017) and Greenlee et al. (2024) sound a warning: in cerebral palsy and visual impairment, parents rate quality of life lower than the children themselves rate it. If the same gap holds in DCD, the true child view may be even worse than Priscila’s parent-only data suggest.
Why it matters
If you serve kids with motor delays, do not wait for clumsiness to fade. Screen with PedsQL or KIDSCREEN at intake, note low scores, and refer to OT or PT right away. Add social-skills or self-advocacy goals, because the poor scores reflect more than balance issues—they reflect daily embarrassment and exclusion.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: One of the major concerns for Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) are the mental and physical consequences of the condition, especially as they relate to quality of life factors. Here, we examined health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children with DCD, determined the association between two standardized parent reports, and compared HRQOL of our sample with DCD with the normative sample of each assessment for typically developing (TD) children and a sample of children with chronic health conditions. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Parents of children with reported DCD with ages between 6 and 12 completed the PedsQL and KIDSCREEN instruments through an online survey. The PedsQL measures HRQOL in the Physical, Emotional, Social, Academic, and Psychosocial Functioning domains, while the KIDSCREEN assesses HRQOL in Physical and Psychological Well-Being, Autonomy & Parents, Peers & Social Support, and School Environment. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Pearson's correlation analyses showed low to moderate correlations between dimensions of the assessments, with the exception of the KIDSCREEN Autonomy & Parents. T-test analyses showed that the group with DCD showed significantly lower scores than the normative samples on the PedsQL and KIDSCREEN, and the PedsQL scores were significantly lower than those of a sample of children experiencing chronic illness. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Scores on both instruments state that DCD likely represents a serious problem for children, and add to the body of evidence supporting the notion that children with DCD have lower overall HRQOL. We urge professionals to address or refer these children to services that can help improve children's quality of life and prevent future health problems.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2018 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2018.02.009