Subjective assessment of quality of life of persons whose fathers had died in the homeland war

The aim of this paper is to show the current subjective assessment of the quality of life of persons whose fathers had died in war, and compare it with regard to some of their socio-demographic characteristics. The study included 494 participants who had come for a physical and psychiatric examination to one of the health institutions in Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek or Split in which examinations were arranged. The inclusion criterion was growing up in a single-parent family as a consequence of the father dying in war. Data were collected using a structured clinical interview which also included socio-demographic data: the age and gender of the participant, educational status, marital status, employment status, household income. Also, participants were asked to fill out the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire - short form (WHOQOL-BREF). Data obtained from this study are descriptive, and are in line with the data obtained on the general population when it comes to comparisons of the assessment of quality of life and certain demographic characteristics. Special emphasis should be given to the link between age and overall satisfaction with the quality of life, with younger persons being more satisfied with the total quality of life than the older study participants. In conclusion, all participants of this study had a specific traumatic experience during the war - their father's death, therefore more data regarding the quality of life of this population can be expected upon a more detailed analysis and establishment of the contribution of traumatization, socio-demographic variables and current mental health to the explanation of the subjective satisfaction with life. A more detailed analysis of the collected data will be available in subsequent papers.