Defining and assessing health-related quality of life

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in quality of life assessment in clinical research and practice, as well as in public health and policy analysis. Indicators of health-related quality of life are important not only for health professionals and their patients, but also for health administrators and health economists in health care planning and policy making. Most studies on the outcome of treatments and interventions now include some kind of a quality of life measure. This usually takes a form of an assessment of symptoms and physical functioning, measurement of psychological well-being, life satisfaction, or coping and adjustment. Numerous scales of psychological health, physical health status and physical functioning have been developed for use in the assessment of health outcomes and a wide range of instruments for measurement of health-related quality of life is available. These fall into two broad categories of generic and disease-specific instruments. The selection of an instrument depends upon its measurement properties but also upon the specific context in which the instrument is going to be used. Adequate attention needs to be paid to the translation and validation of instruments for use across countries and cultural contexts.