Determining the effectiveness of the QI-disability for assessing quality of life among children with complex needs accessing a specialist play provision

McGrath, Nicole, Collins, Bethan, Astill, Fiona, Maguire, Sabine, Kemp, Alison ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1359-7948 and Hurt, Lisa 2026. Determining the effectiveness of the QI-disability for assessing quality of life among children with complex needs accessing a specialist play provision. Research in Developmental Disabilities 169 , 105213. 10.1016/j.ridd.2026.105213

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Background: NICE guidance emphasises improving wellbeing of children with disabilities and complex needs, including the benefits of participation in social activities. Sparkle, a charity in South Wales (UK), delivers specialist play and youth clubs for this group, aimed at providing equitable leisure opportunities and support to develop social skills and independence. Evidence suggests that quality of life for this group can be positively influenced by increasing access to social groups/clubs. Aims: Explore the effectiveness & outcomes of the QI-Disability assessment of quality of life amongst children with complex needs within a larger evaluation of a specialist leisure provision. Methods and Procedures: A quantitative study using the QI-Disability questionnaire to evaluate the impact of a specialist leisure provision. Participants were recruited from the specialist leisure clubs in South Wales (2020–2022). Parents/carers completed the QI-Disability when their child with complex needs first accessed the clubs, then again after 6 and 12 months of participation. A descriptive analysis of the data is provided. Outcomes and Results: Six- and 12-month follow-up questionnaires were completed by 38 and 13 participants respectively. Results show an upwards trend in four domains of quality of life, however only one domain (positive emotions) significantly improved, according to a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Conclusions and Implications: Findings add to a growing body of evidence on the benefits of specialist leisure provisions to wellbeing for children with complex needs. Challenges such as a significant drop-off in participation and the need for methods that obtain meaningful feedback directly from children with communication difficulties are discussed. What this paper adds?: This paper explored the value of a validated questionnaire used to measure quality of life in children with disabilities amongst a group with varied and complex needs. The paper adds to the evidence surrounding the benefits of specialist leisure provision to the quality of life of children with disabilities. However, it also raises specific challenges of measuring quality of life amongst this group of children, and highlights research needs relating to meaningful feedback collection and evaluation of services.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Medicine
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/, Start Date: 2028-01-08
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0891-4222
Date of Acceptance:	6 January 2026
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2026 12:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/183848

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item