[Quality of Life of Children and Adolescents: a Bibliographical Review]

The scope of this article was to analyze Brazilian scientific articles that assess the quality of life related to the health of children and adolescents. The databases consulted were SciELO and Bireme involving a total of 30 articles published between 1990 and 2008. The articles confirmed the predominance of quantitative methodologies (70%) with a high incidence of applications of HRQL (66.7%) and generic texts (28.6%). The concept of quality of life was evaluated from two standpoints: in the context of scientific research and as part of the desired results of healthcare and public policy. This construct is presented from a multidimensional perspective, embracing the social, psychological, physical and individual dimensions, which is based on the premise that the individuals themselves must assess their own quality of life. The article draws attention to the need to create and use instruments of quality of life for children and adolescents that enhance their perspective about their health processes using appropriate tools for each phase of development. The assessment of quality of life should be incorporated in clinical assessment since chronic illness has repercussions in the many dimensions of the life.