The development of the ScoPeO-Kids: A new measure of quality of life for children living in contexts of vulnerability

Access to valid and reliable quality of life measures is of the utmost importance when evaluating how effective interventions targeting vulnerable children are.. The aim of this project was to develop a measure to evaluate the outcomes of interventions that aim to create enabling environments for the development of young children and adolescents living in situations of vulnerability. A standard multi-phase approach integrating qualitative and quantitative methods was used. The identification of key domains, the generation of a pool of items and their response scale was done through a literature review, workshops and focus groups conducted with experts in the field and children living in situations of vulnerability and their parents. The instrument was administered to 150 children from each to pilot test the pool of items. Finally, Rasch analysis was performed on this item pool to verify psychometric properties. A 20-item version of a measure of QoL was created. This new measure will be further tested among another group of children living in communities receiving similar services to verify validity (known-groups) and reliability (test-retest).