Concepts and Measurement of Quality of Life in Health Care

Concepts and Measurement of Quality of Life in Health Care PDF Author: L.Y Nordenfelt
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780792328247
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
This volume brings together a number of scholarly studies on the definition, assessment and measurement of human quality of life. The book contains fundamental analyses of basic concepts such as welfare, wellbeing, happiness and quality of life itself, but contains also discussions on the application of such concepts for measuring purposes mainly in a health care context. Although the approach to these problems in the book is predominantly philosophical, there are also some studies which take a different, mainly sociological and medical, point of view. Most of the authors have a Scandinavian origin and their essays mirror the current debate on quality of life in northern Europe. The book however also contains contributions by distinguished scholars from the U.K., France, Italy and the Netherlands.

Concepts and Measurement of Quality of Life in Health Care

Concepts and Measurement of Quality of Life in Health Care PDF Author: L.Y Nordenfelt
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780792328247
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume brings together a number of scholarly studies on the definition, assessment and measurement of human quality of life. The book contains fundamental analyses of basic concepts such as welfare, wellbeing, happiness and quality of life itself, but contains also discussions on the application of such concepts for measuring purposes mainly in a health care context. Although the approach to these problems in the book is predominantly philosophical, there are also some studies which take a different, mainly sociological and medical, point of view. Most of the authors have a Scandinavian origin and their essays mirror the current debate on quality of life in northern Europe. The book however also contains contributions by distinguished scholars from the U.K., France, Italy and the Netherlands.

The Concept and Measurement of Quality of Life in the Frail Elderly

The Concept and Measurement of Quality of Life in the Frail Elderly PDF Author: James E. Birren
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0080916910
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
This work presents the first serious attempt to impose rigor on the definition and measurement of quality of life among the elderly. The book uses a conference to develop background but goes well beyond the meeting in terms of depth of reviews of the literature and of integration among the chapters.This book is intended for use by researchers in the many disciplines which focus on the mental and physical well-being of the elderly, including those in medicine, nursing, psychiatry, psychology, rehabilitation, sociology and social work, among others. In addition, this book provides important background information for professionals and policy makers interested in ensuring quality of life in the later years.

Individual Quality of Life

Individual Quality of Life PDF Author: Charles Richard Boddington Joyce
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9789057024252
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
The rubric "Quality of Life" first came to the explicit attention of the medical profession a little over thirty years ago. Despite the undoubted fact that each one of us has his or her own Quality of Life, be it good or bad, there is still no general agreement about its definition, or the manner in which it should be evaluated. Although much has been written about quality of life, this work has been largely concerned with population-based studies, especially in health policy & health economics. The importance of individual quality of life has been neglected, in part because of a failure to define quality of life itself with sufficient care, in part perhaps because of a belief that it is impossible to develop a meaningful method of measuring individual variables. It is a fundamental belief of the editors of this book that the primary focus of quality of life is & must continue to be the individual, who alone can define it & assess its changing personal significances. The individual perspective is of vital importance not only to patients but to their doctors too, & is more & more frequently proposed as the most meaningful measure of outcome in clinical research, especially in non-remitting or chronic conditions. Workers who wish to consider wider aspects of influences on the illnesses suffered by individuals & the health care that they receive will find much to stimulate them in the methods of documentation proposed in this book. Those mainly concerned with population samples rather than individuals may also find the sensitive methods of investigation proposed here not only to be applicable to their own areas of interest, but also rewarding in perhaps unexpected ways.

Concepts and Measurement of Quality of Life in Health Care

Concepts and Measurement of Quality of Life in Health Care PDF Author: L.Y Nordenfelt
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401583447
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Questions concerning the notion of quality of life, its definition, and its ap plications for purposes of assessment and measurement in social and medical contexts, have been widely discussed in Scandinavia during the last ten years. To a great extent this discussion mirrors the international develop ment in the area. Several methods for the assessment and measurement of quality of life have been borrowed from the UK and the US and then further developed in northern Europe. But there has also been an internal develop ment. This holds in particular for the social arena, where Scandinavia has had a special tradition both in theory and practice. In this volume an attempt is made to illustrate some aspects of the philo sophical, and in general theoretical, discussion concerning quality of life in Scandinavia. In addition, some prominent scholars from other parts of Europe, i. e. , France, the Netherlands, the UK and Italy, have been invited to contribute. The volume is divided into three sections. The first contains philosophical analyses of the general notion of quality of life and proposes a number of different explications. The second section considers various ap plications of the notion of quality of life in health care. The papers serve to disentangle some intellectual and ethical problems that stem from these ap plications. The third section is more practical and focuses on methods of measuring quality of life in medicine and health care.

Quality

Quality PDF Author: Ivan Barofsky
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441998195
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
Quality, as exemplified by Quality-of-life (QoL) assessment, is frequently discussed among health care professionals and often invoked as a goal for improvement, but somehow rarely defined, even as it is regularly assessed. It is understood that some medical patients have a better QoL than others, but should the QoL achieved be compared to an ideal state, or is it too personal and subjective to gauge? Can a better understanding of the concept help health care systems deliver services more effectively? Is QoL worth measuring at all? Integrating concepts from psychology, philosophy, neurocognition, and linguistics, this book attempts to answer these complex questions. It also breaks down the cognitive-linguistic components that comprise the judgment of quality, including description, evaluation, and valuations, and applies them to issues specific to individuals with chronic medical illness. In this context, quality/QoL assessment becomes an essential contributor to ethical practice, a critical step towards improving the nature of social interactions. The author considers linear, non-linear, and complexity-based models in analyzing key methodology and content issues in health-related QoL assessment. This book is certain to stimulate debate in the research and scientific communities. Its forward-looking perspective takes great strides toward promoting a common cognitive-linguistic model of how the judgment of quality occurs, thereby contributing important conceptual and empirical tools to its varied applications, including QoL assessment.

Oral Health-related Quality of Life

Oral Health-related Quality of Life PDF Author: Marita Rohr Inglehart
Publisher: Quintessence Publishing (IL)
ISBN:
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
ABSTRACT: Helping patients achieve an optimal quality of life through patient-centered treatment planning should be the ultimate goal of all oral health care providers. However, this issue extends beyond the realm of the individual clinician's office. This text presents quality-of-life research from various fields, including psychology, public health, and general health care; discusses how a patient-centered approach can be applied to basic oral and craniofacial research, clinical dental practice, community dental health issues, and dental education; and addresses how oral health-related quality of life relates to treating and understanding different patient populations, such as children with special needs, medically compromised patients, patients with oral cancer, and patients with chronic facial pain. Also discussed is how factors such as race/ethnicity, gender, and age can affect oral health-related quality-of-life concerns and treatment strategies. Finally, the book offers an outlook on the role that oral health-related quality of life will play in future research and dental education.

Paradox and Perception

Paradox and Perception PDF Author: Carol L. Graham
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815703953
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
The "quality of life" concept of quality of life is a broad one. It incorporates basic needs but also extends beyond them to include capabilities, the "livability" of the environment, and life appreciation and happiness. Latin America's diversity in culture and levels of development provide a laboratory for studying how quality of life varies with a number of objective and subjective measures. These measures range from income levels to job insecurity and satisfaction, to schooling attainment and satisfaction, to measured and self-assessed health, among others. Paradox and Perception greatly improves our understanding of the determinants of well-being in Latin America based on a broad "quality of life" concept that challenges some standard assumptions in economics, including those about the relationship between happiness and income. The authors' analysis builds upon a number of new approaches in economics, particularly those related to the study of happiness and finds a number of paradoxes as the region's respondents evaluate their well-being. These include the paradox of unhappy growth at the macroeconomic level, happy peasants and frustrated achievers at the microlevel, and surprisingly high levels of satisfaction with public services among the region's poorest. They also have important substantive links with several of the region's realities, such as high levels of income inequality, volatile macroeconomic performance, and low expectations of public institutions and faith in the capacity of the state to deliver. Identifying these perceptions, paradoxes, and their causes will contribute to the crafting of better public policies, as well as to our understanding of why "populist" politics still pervade in much of the region.

Quality of Life Research

Quality of Life Research PDF Author: Mark Rapley
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1847876706
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
`Many books have been published on quality of life research in recent years, but few are as thought provoking or original as this one. It is essential reading for anyone who a serious and critical interest in this topic′ - Nurse Researcher `This was a fun book to read and I would suggest it be used for a graduate level seminar - where, of course, it would lead to a lively discussion′ - Quality of Life Research `Quality of life′ is one of the fastest growing areas of research and policy. The concept has an intuitive appeal as a measure of the well-being of individuals, communities and nations. It is increasingly promoted as an aid for political decisions and public funding. But what does the concept really mean? And how can it be operationalized in teaching and research? This is the first introductory text to offer a critical overview of the concept of quality of life and the ways in which it is researched. Using an inter-disciplinary approach, the book covers every aspect of the concept and its application - from the calculation of Quality-Adjusted Life Years to conversation analysis, and from the estimation of the quality of life of nation states to ethnographic studies of the life quality of individual disadvantaged people. The book fills a huge gap in teaching and research. Written with authority, and the need to produce an accessible critical introduction to the field, it will be of interest to students of sociology, psychology, public health and nursing, health economics, politics and medicine.

The Quality of Life Concept

The Quality of Life Concept PDF Author: United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental Studies Division
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Environmental policy
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description


The Quality of Life

The Quality of Life PDF Author: Lesley Fallowfield
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
In an age of increasingly sophisticated medical technology, there has been a growing tendency to concentrate on the treatment of disease while forgetting that medicine is about caring for the individual. People suffering from chronic or fatal diseases may find that the benefits of some types of treatment are outweighed by the psychological effects and decline in their quality of life.This timely and topical book, aimed at all those in the caring professions as well as the general public, sets out to show that the aim of prolonging life is not necessarily always the best goal in terms of enabling the individual to continue with a life that he or she considers worth living. Definitions of what constitutes quality of life draw on literary and philosophical sources as well as those from medical sciences, and the author discusses in detail some of the different measures that have been developed for specific disease states, including cancer, heart disease, arthritis, AIDS and the universal problems of ageing and dying.Emotional well-being plays a large part in a person's ability to cope with illness, and response to treatment will depend on a number of factors, including temperament, lifestyle and physical condition. Individual perceptions of what makes life bearable vary so greatly that patient involvement and quality of life measurement are essential in any decision-making about treatment.At a time when shrinking financial resources are being required to be spread more thinly, the new science of health economics is endangering even further patients' quality of life. The author argues strongly for a reassessment of policies which may lead to a concentration on cost-effective treatments at the expense of those which, ignoring the human factor, may appear less economically worthwhile.Based on extensive research, this important book asks all who are involved in caring for others to take stock and re-examine their priorities.Published in the highly-acclaimed Human Horizons Series, the pre-eminent list for people with disabilities, the elderly and the afflicted, and those who care for them, written by the leading experts.