Percepção da qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde de adolescentes: um estudo em escolas públicas e privadas do Rio de Janeiro e Niterói.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the perception of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of adolescents from the 6th grade of elementary education at public and private schools in Rio de Janeiro and Niteroi. To this end, we carried out a cross-sectional study (baseline of the Estudo Longitudinal de Avaliação Nutricional de Adolescentes ELANA) conducted in 2010 with 807 adolescents between 10 and 17 years old belonging to the 6th grade of the elementary school from two public schools in Niterói and four private schools in Rio de Janeiro and São Gonçalo. The information underlying the research is obtained through the reduced version of the Kidscreen instrument, with 27 items and 5 dimensions. Student T tests are used to assess the differential perception of HRQoL stratified by type of school, gender, age and ownership of assets and linear regression models for the evaluation of different HRQoL perception scenarios according to combinations of selected variables for the specification of subgroups (prediction model). The results highlights the significant differences in the perception of each dimension of HRQoL among the selected subgroups even though most teenagers have a positive perception of their HRQoL . A noteworthy aspect is the subgroup 'type of school', where the perception of HRQoL among private school adolescents showed up better compared to public schools in all its dimensions. In addition, the dimension 'Autonomy and Relationship to Parents' among the older adolescents (12-17 years) from public school and with lower property ownership is the only one which presented values considered 'bad' or negative. The predicted scenarios presented in this study suggests a confluence of the vulnerability of some population subgroups, namely girls from public schools and with less ownership of assets (Dimension 'Health and Physical Activity); the adolescents near to reach adulthood and the economically disadvantaged ones ('Psychological Well-being'); students of public schools with lower ownership of assets ('Autonomy and Relationship to Parents'); the boys from public schools ('Friends and Social Support') and boys aged in the second phase of adolescence ('School Environment'). It is expected that the disclosure of the results of this work can contribute to the discussions in the field of public health on the theme of HRQoL by encouraging intersectoral public policy of school health promotion.