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In 1948, the World Health Organization defined health as “the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (World Health Organization [WHO], 1948). Since then, QoL has become increasingly important in health-care practice and research. The term “health-related quality of life” (HRQoL) narrows QoL to aspects relevant to health. However, HRQoL is a comprehensive and complex concept for which no universally accepted definition is available (Fayers & Machin, 2000). Two aspects of HRQoL are central in most definitions. First, it is a multidimensional concept that can be viewed as a latent construct which describes the physical, role functioning, social, and psychological aspects of well-being and functioning (Bullinger, 1991; Calman, 1987; Spilker, 1990). Second, in contrast to QoL, HRQoL can include both objective and subjective perspectives in each domain (Testa & Simonson, 1996). The...
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References and Readings
Bullinger, M. (1991). Quality of life – definition, conceptualization and implications – a methodologists view. Theoretic Surgery, 6, 143–149.
Calman, K. (1987). Definitions and dimensions of quality of life. In N. Aaronson, J. Beckman, J. Bernheim, & R. Zittoun (Eds.), The quality of life of cancer patients (pp. 81–97). New York: Raven.
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Fayers, P., & Machin, D. (2000). Quality of life. Assessment, analysis and interpretation. Chichester: Wiley.
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Koot, H. M. (2001). The study of quality of life: Concepts and methods. In J. L. Wallander & H. M. Koot (Eds.), Quality of life in child and adolescent illness. Concepts, methods and findings (pp. 3–17). East Sussex: Brunner-Routledge.
Spilker, B. (1990). Quality of life assessment in clinical trials. New York: Raven.
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de Wit, M., Hajos, T. (2013). Health-Related Quality of Life. 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_753
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_753
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