ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss conceptual and practical challenges to examining the effects of childhood illness and its treatment on health-related quality of life (HRQOL). To facilitate our exploration of these issues, we use insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) as our primary point of departure. IDDM is a useful model for considering HRQOL in chronic illness for several reasons: its relatively high prevalence in children; onset can occur throughout childhood and adolescence; the major therapeutic demands on patients and their families; its effect on morbidity and mortality.
