Let's Ask Them: A National Survey of Definitions of Quality of Life and Its Enhancement among People Aged 65 and Over

Abstract

This study aimed to explore older peoples' definitions of, and priorities for, a good quality of life for themselves and their peers. Nine hundred and ninety-nine people aged 65 and over, living at home in Britain, were interviewed for the study. Good social relationships were the most commonly mentioned constituent that gave respondents' lives quality (mentioned by 81 percent). Other important factors were social roles and activities, health, psychological outlook and well-being, home and neighborhood, finances, and independence. Poor health was most often mentioned as taking quality away from life (by 50 percent). Social relationships and health were judged to be the most important areas. Having health and enough money were the two most frequently mentioned things that would improve the quality of their own lives and those of their peers (though in different order of magnitude). The need for dynamic, multidimensional, and integrated models of quality of life in older age is suggested by these results.

Percepção de pessoas idosas sobre qualidade de vida

“…Thus, in addition to demographic and morbidity data, understanding the perspective of these individuals concerning their QoL based on the local context is important in supporting interventions developed by the services responsible to provide health care to these individuals and to adjust educational programs for professionals in the field. As presented by some authors (14) , we believe that this study contributes empirical data that permit evaluating the validity of the construction of theoretical models and measures of QoL related to the aging process.…”

“…Despite the different questions presented by both studies, issues related to personal relationships, financial resources and health present similar results. Studies (2,8,14,27) in which researchers analyze the definitions of QoL based on the individuals' perspectives are highlighted in the international context. In two studies (2,8) that evaluated the dimensions of QoL, the ones most mentioned by the elderly people were: family, social contact, health, mobility, material circumstances, activities, happiness, youth and home environment.…”

“…In another study with 999 British older adults (14) on QoL definitions, the constituents of a good QoL most frequently cited were: having good social relationships (81%), followed by social roles and activities (60%), health (44%), psychological well-being (38%), and neighbourhood leading to social integration and safety (37%), having no financial worries, and independence (33% and 27%, respectively).…”

“…Recently, WHO developed the WHOQOL-OLD module, which was based on WHOQOL-100 and followed the same methodological approach, but permits a specific evaluation of older persons (12) . In general, studies that address the QoL of the older persons in international and national contexts investigate the perceptions of elderly people of the meaning of QoL (8,(13)(14) and the potential determinants of QoL for older persons (1,15) . There are also other studies that measure the QoL of older persons in the community (16)(17) .…”

Quality of life in chronic disease patients

“…An integrated framework, such as the biopscychosocial model, for healthcare would be built on a single guiding principle: that the aim of addressing the physical, social and psychological aspects of chronic disease is to help patients with chronic diseases and the whole population, to live well, regardless of the chronic disease or an individual's own current state of health. 60 Bowling et al (2003) 17 HRQoL is a very useful construct with broader domains that can be used to provide the scientific community with the tools for patientcentred health care. Integrated patient treatment should include a lot of specialties besides physicians like psychologies, nurses and social workers in order to achieve the enhancement of HRQoL in patients with chronic disease.…”