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The concept of quality of life

The concept of quality of life
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Tuesday, 19 February 2008
The concept of quality of life

In general terms quality can be defined as a grade of 'goodness'.Quality of life in relation to health is a
broader concept than personal health status and also takes social well-being,as described above,into account.
There is no consensus over a definition of quality of life. The literature covers a range of components:
functional ability including role functioning(e.g domestic,return to work),the degree and quality of social
and community interaction,psychological well-being,somatic sensation and life satisfaction.It is becoming
fashionable to equate all non-clinical data with 'quality of life' which is likely to be a source of conceptual
confusion.Health an functional status are just two dimensions of health-related quality of life.

    There is little empirical research attempting to define those qualities which make life and surviva
valuable.Mendola and Pelligrini(1979)have defined quality of life as 'the individual's archievement of satisfactory
social situation within the limits of perceived physical capacity'.This is a fairly limited definition  and
no more easy to operationalize than more complex definitions.Shin and Johnson(1978) have suggested the quality
of life consists of 'the possession of resource neccessary to the satisfactory of individual needs,wants and desires
,participantion in activities enabling personal development and self actualization and satisfactory comparison
between oneself  and other, all of which are dependent on previous experience  and knowledge.Patterson( 1975 )
approached this differently by identifying certain characteristics deemed essential to any evaluation of quality
of life.These included general health,performance status,general comfort,emotional status and economic status.
all of which are contributory to the proposition made by Shin and Johnson.Basically,quality of life is recognized
as a concept representing individual responses to the physical,mental and social effects  of illness on daily
living which influnce the extent to which personal satisfaction with life circumstances can be achieved.
It encompasses more than adequate physical well-being,it includes perceptions of well-being,a basic level of
satisfaction and a general sense of self-worth.The wide range of definations of quality of life, and their inconsistent
structures,has been reviewed by Farquhar ( 1995a),and the diverse contributions of sociology(functionalism) and
psychology (subjective well-being) to the theoretical foundation of the conceptualization of quality of life
have been described by Patrick and Erickson ( 1993 )

    There is increasing re-recognition of the importance of another sociological approach-phenomenology-to
 the study of quality of life(the evaluation of quality of life is dependent on the individual who experiences
it ) (Ziller1974:Benner 1985 ) and attempts are being made to compromise by taking greater account of human
meaning within conventional measurement scales.These approaches were descripedin the author's Measuring Disease.
In this vein,the WHOQOL Group ( 1993 ),at the World Health organization,has included in the definition of quality
of life,the individual's perception of their positionin life in the context of the culture and value systems in
which they live and in relation to their goal.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 19 February 2008 )

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