A Summary of Current Findings on Quality of Life Domains and a Proposal for Their Inclusion in Clinical Interventions

Abstract

Whilst the assessment of quality of life (QoL) and well-being has burgeoned in the past 50 years, there still remains relatively little research into its treatment in psychology, in spite of the launching of such approaches as positive psychology to widen the ambit of interventions to promote well-being. We posit that there are a number of outstanding QoL areas that could be integrated into standard therapeutic procedures, and that this would this result in an increase in well-being as a therapeutic outcome. To investigate this an exploratory search of the literature was undertaken of associations between improvements in a life domain and increased well-being or QoL. Ten domains (relationships, work, money, health, and leisure, mindfulness, self-esteem, resolution of past life events, mental style and life management skills) were identified. In view of the substantial evidence of the cumulative impact of these domains upon well-being, it is proposed that conducting a unidimensional clinical intervention that focuses only on the presenting issue is not sufficient. Implications and possible therapeutic pathways are discussed and it is recommended that practitioners include such QoL domains in their assessment, case formulation, and intervention planning.

The construction of a new Clinical Quality of Life Scale (CLINQOL)

“…Based on the above and the more recent research of Jones and Drummond 's [15] summary of current findings on quality of life domains, it was expected that some type of division into subjective (affect and cognition) and objective domains would occur. However, it remained of interest to determine which of the identified subjective domains were independent, and which were related and had common underlying processes that were part of a bigger construct.…”

“…An initial pool of facets was generated from the previous exploratory search of empirical studies that reported significant correlations between perceived quality of life and well-being [15]. The identified areas are relationships, work, money, health and leisure, mindfulness, self-esteem, resolution of past life events, mental style, and life management.…”

“…There seemed however no utility in replicating research that attempted to capture all aspects of QOL. Hence in response to this, as reported in earlier research [15], a preliminary exploratory search of the literature was limited to studies that included the presence of a significant effect from improving a presenting issue (e.g., communication skills), upon the experience of well-being or perceived quality of life domain (e.g., relationships).…”

Investigaciones itinerantes en ciencias sociales y humanidades

“…La calidad de vida es definida por la Organización Mundial de la Salud como la percepción que tiene un individuo de su posición en la vida en el contexto de la cultura y los sistemas de valores en los que vive y en relación con sus metas, expectativas, estándares y preocupaciones (who, 1995). En ese sentido, hay diversos determinantes para que una persona tenga una buena calidad de vida, algunos estos son las relaciones, la economía, el empleo, eventos de vida y la salud (Jones y Drummond, 2021).…”

Development of a Pain Quality of Life Measure

“…According to the literature, quality of life consists of four primary life quality domains (e.g., Physical Health, Social Support, Psychological Health, and Vocational/Economic Status) [1,2] to as many as 10 secondary quality of life domains (e.g., Relationships/ Social Support, Work/Vocational Activities, Money/Finances; General Health; Leisure/Recreation; Mindfulness/Self-awareness; Self-Esteem; Major Life Events &/or Life Change; Mental Health/ Coping; Life Management/Goal Setting) depending on the patient population studied and specificity of the research [2][3][4][5][6].…”