Definition
Subjective assessment of the various aspects of quality of life.
Description
Quality of Life (QoL) is considered an important outcome variable in health-care practice and research. Consideration of QoL provides health-care providers, researchers, and policy makers insight into how variables of interest (e.g., chronic disease, medication use, living environment) impact a person’s subjective well-being, which is instrumental to improving health-care practice systems.
QoL measures may be of potential value in comparing outcomes in clinical trials, evaluating interventions, commissioning programs of care, assessing the outcomes of new treatments, and in audit work. Further on, measuring health-related QoL (HRQoL) can facilitate discussion between patients and professionals in health care and stimulate the dialogue between medical outcomes and patients’ subjective views (de Wit et al., 2008; Detmar, Muller, Schornagel, Wever, & Aaronson, 2002; Pouwer, Snoek, van der Ploeg, Ader,...
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de Wit, M. (2013). Quality of Life: Measurement. In: Gellman, M.D., Turner, J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_776
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_776
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