Some Aspects of the Quality of Life of the Adolescents with and without Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Kvaliteta života je individualan doživljaj zadovoljstva životom. Zadovoljstvo opcenito vlastitom kvalitetom života, ali i pojedinim dimenzijama koje ju odreðuju, utvrðujemo subjektivnim pristupom na osnovi procijenjenog stupnja zadovoljstva kod pojedinca. Cilj ovog istraživanja odnosio se na utvrðivanje nekih aspekata kvalitete života adolescenata sa i bez cerebralne paralize. Uzorak istraživanja cinile su dvije skupine ispitanika; prvu skupinu cinilo je 80 ispitanika s cerebralnom paralizom, a drugu 80 ispitanika bez cerebralne paralize. Istraživanje je provedeno u okviru projekta: “Samoprocjena nekih aspekata kvalitete života adolescenata s cerebralnom paralizom”. Primijenjen je mjerni instrument “Upitnik za samoprocjenu kvalitete života (USKŽ)” (konstruiran za potrebe ovog istraživanja), koji ima utvrđene mjerne karakteristike i primjenjiv je u istraživacke svrhe za procjenu doživljaja zadovoljstva u nekim aspektima kvalitete života. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da se ispitanici s cerebralnom paralizom razlikuju od ispitanika bez cerebralne paralize u nekim aspektima kvalitete života. Adolescenti s cerebralnom paralizom izražavaju vece zadovoljstvo u varijablama koje pokrivaju socijalni aspekt kvalitete života, dok adolescenti bez cerebralne paralize procjenjuju da su zadovoljniji u varijablama koje odreðuju psihološki aspekt kvalitete života. Dobiveni rezultati potvrðuju odreðenje kvalitete života kao složene psihološke kategorije determinirane objektivnim okolnostima u kojima pojedinac živi, karakteristikama njegove licnosti te razinom ocekivanja. Utjecaj spola, kronološke dobi i vrste srednje škole na procijenjenu kvalitetu života nije statisticki znacajan što ukazuje na nepostojanje kvantitativnih razlika izmeðu ispitanika sa i bez cerebralne paralize. Težina motorickog ispada utjecala je na samoprocjenu nekih aspekata kvalitete života adolescenata s cerebralnom paralizom. Samostalno pokretni ispitanici s cerebralnom paralizom isticu zdravlje kao bitan element kvalitete života i razlika među njima.The quality of life is the individual experience of satisfaction in life. The satisfaction in general with the person\u27s quality of life but also with the individual dimensions determining it, is determined by subjective approach based on the assessed level of satisfaction of the individual. The scope of the research has been to establish some aspects of the quality of life of the adolescents with and without cerebral palsy. The research sample was made of the two groups of the respondents; the first group was made of 80 respondents with cerebral palsy, and the second of 80 respondents without cerebral palsy. The investigation was conducted within the Project of "Self-Assessment of Some Aspects of the Quality of Life of the Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy". The applied measuring instrument was the "Questionnaire for Self-Assessment of the Quality of Life (USKŽ)" (made for the requirements of the research), with the determined measuring characteristics and applicable for the research purposes for assessment of the experience of satisfaction in some aspects of the quality of life. The results of the research have shown that in some aspects of the quality of life the respondents with cerebral palsy differ from the respondents without cerebral palsy. The adolescents with cerebral palsy have shown greater satisfaction in the variables covering the social aspect of the quality of life, while the adolescents without cerebral palsy have assessed to experience more satisfaction in the variable determining the psychological aspect of the quality of life. The obtained results have confirmed the definition of the quality of life as complex category determined by the objective circumstances in which the individual lives, traits of his/her personality and level of expectation. The impact of the sex, chronological age and type of the high school education on the assessed quality of life is not statistically significant which indicates the inexistent quantitative difference between the respondents with and without cerebral palsy. The degree of the motor disorder has affected the self-assessment of some aspects of the quality of life of the adolescents with cerebral palsy. The respondents with cerebral palsy independent in terms of motion have emphasized health as the important element of the quality of life and differences among them