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Quality of life and meaning of life: measuring the unmeasurable

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Journal of Medicine and the Person

Abstract

Quality of life (QoL) in medicine and in oncology is an accepted parameter for the evaluation of the benefit of treatments. Scientific methods exist to assess QoL measures in clinical trials. However, many components of the person that are properly humane and determine the patient’s attitude towards the disease are not measured by current criteria. Based on clinical experience, the author considers that a shift in knowledge and in doctors’ attitudes is required to also include non-measurable parameters in the doctor-patient relationship.

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Correspondence to M. Bregni.

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Bregni, M. Quality of life and meaning of life: measuring the unmeasurable. J Med Pers 8, 60–64 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12682-010-0056-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12682-010-0056-4

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