Who defines quality of life as: an individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns.
Health-related quality of life
Health-related quality of life is a pragmatic demarcation and mainly relates to the function and well-being of ill health, illness and treatment.
Measuring quality of life and health-related quality of life
In simple terms, there are two ways to evaluate quality of life – health-related quality of life: Through interviews or with questionnaires – both methods provide valuable information.
Questionnaires dominate in healthcare and are available in many variants. Questionnaires are available in three fundamentally different types: Generic (general), domain-specific and disease-specific (ASTA belongs to the last category).
THE STATE’S PREPARATION FOR MEDICAL AND SOCIAL EVALUATION HAS, AMONG OTHER THINGS, below compilation on its website:
What is quality of life?
Quality of life is a broad and complex measure of the individual’s own evaluation of their physical, mental and social well-being. According to the WHO, quality of life is about the individual’s perception of their life situation in relation to current culture and norms, and in relation to their own goals, expectations, values and interests. By definition, it is a personal experience that is affected by changes in the life situation and that varies over time.
Although health is of great importance for quality of life, other aspects of life also play a role, of course: family and socialising, work and leisure, economy, housing, education, belonging to other people and so on.
The concept of health-related quality of life covers the aspects of the general quality of life that are affected by health. This is of interest in clinical research when looking at the effect of different care measures on patients’ quality of life, and not just on symptoms and survival. Health-related quality of life is also measured in population studies to plan and follow up public health interventions.
In addition, different measures of quality of life are used for health economic comparisons of different treatments. For example, the costs of winning a life-changing life year are compared with various measures.
The forms used can be divided into general and disease-specific or condition-specific. The general forms should make it possible to compare patient groups, while the specific ones aim to provide a more detailed picture of a particular type of health problem. Specific forms have become more common.
Here you can read more about quality of life, health-related quality of life and how to measure these more or less well-defined concepts (in Swedish!):
https://www.sbu.se/en/publikationer/vetenskap-och-praxis/viktigt-men-svart-mata-quality of life/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_of_life (English)