Quality of life (QoL) is critical to identify various problems affecting children and adolescents through different times and aspects. Childhood and adolescence are distinct periods of human growth, during which they develop rapidly at the physical, mental, and social dimensions. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health in a broad way with a multidimensional construct, including physical, mental, and social dimensions, along with medical and public health advances. However, COVID-19 has exposed individuals to risks to their physical health, mental health, and social and connectedness. Hence, an increasing emphasis on quality of life is appearing when assessing the health outcomes of children and adolescents in different contexts and at different stages of development.
However, most studies focused on QoL took an absolutist perspective, which assumed that measuring and interventions could be applied across contexts and stages. The development of appropriate measurements and interventions for children and adolescents is hindered by the rapid rate of physical, mental, and social development characteristics of them, which renders the measurement and intervention of their QoL a "moving target". Since 1990, the concept of "moving target" has been raised. Though several studies have tried to ensure conceptual equivalence and test validation, or make adaptations of promising interventions across contexts, the cross-contextual and developmental challenges are still an area of under-discussed topic.
This special characteristic, a moving target, implies the need for exploring “If”, “When”, “How”, and “Why” promoting QoL counts among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19, as a major public health crisis, made the “moving” characteristic of QoL even more pronounced. We, therefore, call for papers that aim to answer these pressing questions. We aim to synthesize cutting-edge knowledge on the “If” and “How” questions, which refer to developing the measurements and interventions of QoL in specific contexts for children in different stages based on theory and experience, testing the reliability, validity, and effect. Despite the “moving” characteristic and situations, given the lack of good comparative psychometrics and evidence on the performance/mechanism of the existing measurements and interventions across contexts and stages, we call for papers to explain "When" and “Why”. We welcome original research, brief reports, systematic literature reviews, meta-analyses, guidelines, and case studies centered around.
• Development and validation of the measurements related to QoL in children and adolescents in different contexts (e.g., clinical, educational, organizational, community, societal contexts, etc.).
• Measuring QoL in the prospective study among children and adolescents.
• Proxy assessment of QoL measurement.
• Design intervention that promotes QoL in different contexts.
• Mixed methods studies analyzing the mechanism of QoL enhancement intervention program/strategy.
• Studies focusing on different groups of disadvantaged children and adolescents (e.g., chronic disease and/or rare disease, impaired social well-being, poverty, etc.) are welcomed.
• The effect of the intervention on QoL in different contexts.
• Systemic review and/or meta-analysis focusing on QoL in children and adolescents, adding the body of high-quality evidence to reach a consensus in measuring and intervening in "moving target".
Quality of life (QoL) is critical to identify various problems affecting children and adolescents through different times and aspects. Childhood and adolescence are distinct periods of human growth, during which they develop rapidly at the physical, mental, and social dimensions. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health in a broad way with a multidimensional construct, including physical, mental, and social dimensions, along with medical and public health advances. However, COVID-19 has exposed individuals to risks to their physical health, mental health, and social and connectedness. Hence, an increasing emphasis on quality of life is appearing when assessing the health outcomes of children and adolescents in different contexts and at different stages of development.
However, most studies focused on QoL took an absolutist perspective, which assumed that measuring and interventions could be applied across contexts and stages. The development of appropriate measurements and interventions for children and adolescents is hindered by the rapid rate of physical, mental, and social development characteristics of them, which renders the measurement and intervention of their QoL a "moving target". Since 1990, the concept of "moving target" has been raised. Though several studies have tried to ensure conceptual equivalence and test validation, or make adaptations of promising interventions across contexts, the cross-contextual and developmental challenges are still an area of under-discussed topic.
This special characteristic, a moving target, implies the need for exploring “If”, “When”, “How”, and “Why” promoting QoL counts among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19, as a major public health crisis, made the “moving” characteristic of QoL even more pronounced. We, therefore, call for papers that aim to answer these pressing questions. We aim to synthesize cutting-edge knowledge on the “If” and “How” questions, which refer to developing the measurements and interventions of QoL in specific contexts for children in different stages based on theory and experience, testing the reliability, validity, and effect. Despite the “moving” characteristic and situations, given the lack of good comparative psychometrics and evidence on the performance/mechanism of the existing measurements and interventions across contexts and stages, we call for papers to explain "When" and “Why”. We welcome original research, brief reports, systematic literature reviews, meta-analyses, guidelines, and case studies centered around.
• Development and validation of the measurements related to QoL in children and adolescents in different contexts (e.g., clinical, educational, organizational, community, societal contexts, etc.).
• Measuring QoL in the prospective study among children and adolescents.
• Proxy assessment of QoL measurement.
• Design intervention that promotes QoL in different contexts.
• Mixed methods studies analyzing the mechanism of QoL enhancement intervention program/strategy.
• Studies focusing on different groups of disadvantaged children and adolescents (e.g., chronic disease and/or rare disease, impaired social well-being, poverty, etc.) are welcomed.
• The effect of the intervention on QoL in different contexts.
• Systemic review and/or meta-analysis focusing on QoL in children and adolescents, adding the body of high-quality evidence to reach a consensus in measuring and intervening in "moving target".
