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Psychology of Wounds and Wound Care in Clinical Practice pp 85–111Cite as

Quality of Life and Well-Being

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Abstract

The assessment of quality of life (QoL) has become progressively important over the past 25 years. In clinical settings this is usually called health related quality of life (HRQoL), which has become well-established as an essential patient reported outcome measure (PROM). A related concept, which is garnering increasing interest, is subjective well-being. Despite some commonalities, HRQoL and well-being should be treated as separate concepts; they should not be used as synonyms. In short, HRQoL refers to the cognitive appraisal which a patient makes about the impact their health has on their daily life, whilst well-being concerns a patient’s emotional response to their wound, its treatment and their future. This chapter explores these concepts in more detail, beginning by explaining the theoretical foundations of QoL and wellbeing, and describing the conceptual models that can be applied to wound care. Ways of measuring QoL and well-being are also discussed, before finally the implications for practice, and the benefits for patient care are determined.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, Aust Capital Terr, Australia

    Dominic Upton

  2. Institute of Health and Society, University of Worcester, Worcester, UK

    Penney Upton

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  1. Dominic Upton
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  2. Penney Upton
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Upton, D., Upton, P. (2015). Quality of Life and Well-Being. In: Psychology of Wounds and Wound Care in Clinical Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09653-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09653-7_4

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