Paper
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Assessment of children's health and well being profile in school context
Manuel Alves Rodrigues, PhD, Health Sciences' Research Unit: Nursing Domain, Coimbra Nursing School, Coimbra, Portugal and Isabel Noronha, RN, Mental Health, Hospitais da Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
| Learning Objective #1: to know the psychometric characteristics of the Child Health Illness Profile (CHIP-CE), in a population of Portuguese children.
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| Learning Objective #2: to analyse the results of the children’s health profile in different dimensions. (Comfort, Avoidance, Satisfaction, Resilience and Achievement)
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Background: the encouragement of researches on children’s health profile in the beginning of the educational chain is justified by the fact that childhood is seen as the best phase for the firm acquisition of healthy lifestyles, which has repercussions throughout life (WHO, 1996). Aim: To analyse the health and well being profile of 6-12 year old children in school context. Method: Instrument: Child Health Illness Profile (CHIP- CE) by Riley et al, validated for the Portuguese population, having good psychometric proprieties. Alpha=0,84. 5 dimensions (satisfaction; comfort; resilience; avoidance; achievement). Sample: an accidental non probabilistic sample of 216 children was drawn from two basic Portuguese schools (55,1% male and 44,9 % female. The majority of the children are aged between (10 years=36,6% and 11 years= 41,2%).).Results: Means and standard deviation for the dimensions (Comfort, (4,33), (0,45); Avoidance, (4.18), (0,53); Satisfaction, (4,03), (0,56); Resilience, (3,89), (0,65); Achievement, (3,75), (0,60). Discussion: Resilience and achievement are the dimensions which show lower health perceptions. The most problematic indicators of the dimension achievement refer to “relationship parents/children”. The most problematic indicators of the dimension Resilience refer to “trouble doing homework and getting along with peers”. Conclusion: CHIP-CE proved to be easily administered and a reliable instrument for the Portuguese population. The diagnosis of the health profile emphasized the indicators and dimensions in which children revealed a more negative health perception; allowed identifying the settings (schools/classes) in which children with specific needs were found, and it helped planning a strategy for health promotion and prevention.