Objective: A newly developed, disorder-nonspecific instrument to measure the quality of life in children and adolescents (ILK, Mattejat et al., 1998) was tested with regard to its ability to differentiate between psychiatric in- and outpatient samples.
Methods: 626 children and adolescents from regionally different in- and outpatient clinics completed the ILK questionnaire. The data obtained were first described and then analyzed by means of logistic regression analysis.
Results: Whereas the descriptive analysis revealed that inpatients evaluated all areas of life more unfavorably than outpatients did, the logistic regression analysis modified these results. It became evident that some of the findings obtained were due to the effects of age and/or gender. However, given age and gender as covariates, there still remained some important life domains in which inpatients were more impaired than outpatients.
Conclusions: The ILK turned out to be an efficient and economic instrument to measure the quality of life in children and adolescents depending on the severity of their disorder. Moreover, it is sensitive to effects of age and gender. As the ILK is able to reliably identify areas with a reduced quality of life, it offers valuable starting points for indications, therapy planning and initial therapeutic interventions.