A Comparative Study to Assess the Quality of Life and Stress among Orphan and Non-orphan Children in Selected Areas of Bagalkot

Introduction: The word orphan comes from the Greek word ‘Orfanos’ and refers to a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. Methods: A non-experimental descriptive comparative design has been adopted for the present study. The sample of the present study comprises orphan children residing in an orphanage and non-orphan children residing in selected areas of Bagalkot. The sample comprised 30 orphans and 30 non-orphans aged between 10 and 16 years. The data were collected by using self-report, structured closed-ended questionnaires for socio-demographic variables of children, self-administered WHO Quality of life BREF scale, and PSS stress scale. The data obtained were analysed with the help of descriptive and inferential statistics. Result: Findings related to the comparison between the level of stress among the orphan and non-orphan children revealed that majority of orphan children (76.66%) had about moderate stress, 23.33% of the orphan children had high stress, and none of the children had a low level of stress, whereas among non-orphan children, majority (90%) had moderate stress, 10% had low level stress, and none of them had high level stress. The findings related to the comparison of levels of quality of life among the orphan and non-orphan children reveal that a high percentage of orphan children (66.66%) had a moderate quality of life and some of them (33.33%) had a poor quality of life, whereas a high number of non-orphan children (66.66%) had a very good quality of life and some (33.33%) had a good quality of life. No significant association was found between the quality of life and stress scores with the socio-demographic variables of orphan and non-orphan children. Conclusion: The study concluded that orphan children need to improve their quality of life and decrease their level of stress.