Health-related quality of life in two itinerant samples: carnival and migrant farm worker children.

The document Healthy People 2010 sets a national health care agenda that includes reducing health disparities and improving quality of life. This study evaluated health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in children aged 2 to 12 years being raised in two itinerant populations: traveling carnival children (n=33) and migrant farm worker children (n=48), and compared their outcomes to each other and to findings in published literature. The study sample utilized cluster sampling from outdoor amusement companies (carnivals) and agricultural farms who agreed for the researcher to enter their premises and speak with their workers. The PedsQL Generic Core Scales, including a child self-report and parent-proxy, measured HRQOL. HRQOL of the itinerant children did not differ from that of a more geographically stable California sample. The carnival children's mean scores were higher than the migrant farm worker children's scores on 7 out of 12 subscales, but the differences were not statistically significant.