Quality of Life for Children and Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities: review of conceptual and methodological issues relevant to public policy

The construct of quality of life has great potential for guiding development and evaluation of policies for children with developmental disabilities. However, there are many different definitions and models of quality of life, and not all of them are equally appropriate for developing policies that would meaningfully address the needs of children with develop mental disabilities. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to review major approaches to quality of life and discuss three models specific to children with respect to their relevance to public policy for children with developmental disabilities. Review of these models includes a discussion of quality of life definitions and conceptual issues, as well as analysis of major measurement characteristics of the instrument(s) associated with each model. Potential of each model for guiding development and evaluation of policy is also considered.