En dehors des maladies, la notion de qualité de vie est de plus en plus utilisée pour rendre compte des conséquences psychologiques et sociales d’autres situations de vulnérabilité rencontrées par les individus, y compris de jeunes enfants. L’objectif de cette étude est de comparer la qualité de vie d’enfants placés en institution suite à une mesure de protection de l’enfance et d’enfants vivant dans leur famille, ainsi que d’examiner ses relations avec leur parcours de placement. La population est composée de 56 enfants de 6 à 11ans dont 28 étaient placés dans une institution relevant de la protection de l’enfance au moment du recueil de données. Les éducateurs référents des enfants placés ont rempli un questionnaire permettant de retracer leur parcours de placement et l’ensemble des enfants ayant participé à l’étude ont évalué la perception qu’ils avaient de leur qualité de vie. Les résultats montrent que si la qualité de vie des enfants placés ne se distingue pas de celle des autres enfants, en revanche, elle apparaît étroitement liée aux causes et à la multiplicité des lieux de placement. Ces résultats sont interprétés à la lumière des travaux issus de la théorie de l’attachement.

Besides diseases, the concept of quality of life is increasingly used to account for the consequences of other vulnerability situations that may be encountered by individuals, including young children. However, very few studies have examined children's perception of their quality of life in the context of child welfare and protection, and they yielded mixed results.

The objectives of this study were (1) to compare the subjective quality of life of children placed in institution with that of children living in their families, by controlling for child sex, age, socioeconomic and familial status, and (2) to examine its relations with their placement course in the child welfare system.

The sample of this study was composed of 56 children aged 6 to 11, 28 of which were placed in a child welfare institution. Information about the placement course of institutionalized children was given by their social workers and the quality of life of all participants was assessed with the AUQUEI questionnaire. This self-report, which is based on children's conception of their quality of life, allows assessment of four distinct dimensions in addition to the overall score: leisure, performances, relations and family life, and separation.

According to the results, the quality of life of children placed in institutions did not differ from that of children living in their families. However, its perception was closely related to the placement course of institutionalized children in the child welfare system. Whereas maltreated children obtained lower overall and performance scores than their neglected peers, children placed in foster families before institution had a poorer perception of their quality of life in the domains of family life and separations.

These results are interpreted in light of attachment research and theory. Indeed, the relations between children's quality of life and their placement course could be explained by their high level of attachment disorganization. Finally, the results of this study suggested that children were well aware of their difficulties and that they can easily be identified by directly assessing the children's quality of life.