Critical Reviews™ in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine

ISSN for PRINT: 0896-2960

For Online Access

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2007, Volume19

Issue 2

94 pages

DOI: 10.1615/CritRevPhysRehabilMed.v19.i2

Issue price - $190.00

Astrid Bergland
Oslo University College, Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo, Norway

Ingrid Narum
Oslo University College, Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo, Norway

A dramatic increase in the number of research papers on the topic of quality of life (QOL) has occurred during the last 30 years. This article summarizes our current understanding of the field of QOL, beginning with the historic milestones, the concepts QOL and health-related QOL, subjective and objective measures, domains, essential elements, and the context of culture, and ending with the status and challenges of the concept. The term QOL refers to the set of factors comprosing personal satisfaction with life. In this research field, there is one conclusion with overwhelming agreement: QOL is multidimensional, multifaceted, and based on the belief that people know what is important to them. QOL should be thought of as the set of elements to which a variable is limited or the range over which the concept of QOL extends. The term QOL is recognized to consist of health-related and non-health-related aspects of living. Two basic approaches characterize health-related QOL−generic or condition-specific. The problem remains that no single, clear, universally accepted definition exists. Moreover, because the field is diverse and changing, we suggest that it would be unwise to limit the reader and researcher to a specific and narrow definition that might not reflect the diversity in the field.

DOI: 10.1615/CritRevPhysRehabilMed.v19.i2.30 Download article, 115-139 pages

Article price - $50.00

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