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Quality of Life in Old Age: A Theoretical Perspective

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Quality of Life and Person-Centered Care for Older People

Abstract

Despite the widespread use of the concept “quality of life”, there is no agreement about its definition. In an attempt to clarify its meaning, this chapter presents the results of a concept analysis that investigated the current use of the term in the literature. Four different definitions of quality of life were identified: quality of the objective life situation, general subjective well-being, subjective satisfaction of needs, and a multidimensional subjective state. Each definition comprises several components that may vary from author to author. Three of these definitions, however, concur that quality of life is a subjective state. Hence, in order to determine the components of subjective quality of life one has to ask older persons about their perspective. A definition of quality of life requires a person-centred approach.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Nursing Science, Philosophical-Theological University Vallendar, Vallendar, Germany

    Thomas Boggatz

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Boggatz, T. (2020). Quality of Life in Old Age: A Theoretical Perspective. In: Quality of Life and Person-Centered Care for Older People. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29990-3_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29990-3_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-29989-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-29990-3

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