Quality Of Life Assessment

More people are living much longer lives than in years past. People are very surprised to be living much longer lives than they thought they would. Health care has played a large part in patient longevity. There are many normal changes that come along with aging, however, because people are living longer these normal changes can become chronic problems. Common aging problems that can make the older adult a vulnerable population are reviewed in Gerontological Nursing (Tabloski, 2014) and can include nutritional needs, medication management, sleep changes, oral or mouth care, renal problems and musculoskeletal concerns. According to A Profile of Older Americans: 2013 (http://www.hhs.gov), there are a large amount

The purpose of this research is to review factors that trigger elderly depression states, their physical and mental health conditions,

One of the key arguments for mental health being the important factor in successful aging is a person’s self-perception about aging (SPA) (Monko, 2016). Specifically, that SPA has a bearing on disease progression and perceived quality of life (Monko, 2016). That is, the higher the SPA, the more positive the sense of well-being,

Trauma one Pediatric Emergency Department! Trauma one Pediatric Emergency Department responding over! Rescue Unit 29 transporting a 12 year-old boy, named Mike, hit by a car while riding his bicycle. This is a hit and run accident, but other motorists called a rescue unit. The child was not wearing a helmet. Facial bleeding is under control, but he suffered facial and head trauma. There appeared to be no facture of the extremities. Presently he is awake and semi-alert. Vitals signs: BP 120/56, Pulse 120, Oxygen

Suzman, R., Beard, J. R., Boerma, T., & Chatterji, S.Health in an ageing world—what do we know? The Lancet, 385(9967), 484-486. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61597-X

The Institute of Medicine released a report in 1999 titled To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health Care System concerning the number of medical error related deaths. The report states that between 44,000 and 98,000 medical error related deaths occur each year in hospitals across the country (Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J., & Donaldson, M. S., 2000) In response to this report, the Institute of Medicine released Crossing the Quality Chasm: Health: A New Health Care System for the 21st Century that outlines six aims for the future of the healthcare system: safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, equitable (Institute of Medicine, 2001). These aims set to establish the quality of healthcare across the country. Quality is defined by the Institute of Medicine as ““the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge” (2001).

Essential components of QOL include human condition whether if it is physical, psychological, social, cultural, or spiritual. QOL is strongly worked by subjective health professionals are able to adjust their practices by assessment of the QOL of the patient. Studies related to the quality of life of a patient can bring knowledge to improve the quality of health interventions as well as assist them in planning and implementing actions that can promote improvement in their life.

Roberts, R.E., Vernon, S.W., Rhoades, H.M. (1989). Effects of language and ethnic status on reliability and validity of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale with psychiatric patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 177,

In “What is self-rated health and why does it predict mortality? Towards a unified conceptual model,” by Marja Jylha (2009) argues that self-rated health is a valuable indicator of human health status, socially and biologically. Furthermore, it is a powerful tool to understand its association with mortality, social, and cultural contexts. The author conducted this argument in three parts. First, Maria Jylha suggested a model that distinguish the different stages in the process of the health assessment: the person will have to recognize the meaning of health, identify the elements that should be taken into account for their health status, and last of all, determine which of the levels in the preset scale best summarizes their health status.

First, a professional translator, with experience from medical sciences, translated the original question items into Finnish. The draft was checked and corrected by two of the researchers (AR, JR) and an MS nurse expert on HRQOL. Thereafter, the Finnish version was retranslated into English by an independent specialist (a medical doctor). The publisher of the original MSQOL-54 gave her permission for the use of the scale after having commented on the back translation.

The biggest weakness of this assessment tool is its inconclusiveness to assess major affective and cognitive disturbances, (Krug, 2000). Differences regarding means have been found among subgroups of expected primary scales. For instance, females tend to score higher in “Sensitivity” (I), while older age groups score lower in “Liveliness” (F). The numbers of scales used, make additional training and experience necessary to provide a more comprehensive analysis. Narrower definitions in certain scales came out with the increased homogeneity in the 16PF5 version. Moreover, since the 16PF is based in self-report measures, responses can be counterfeited, (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009). There have been several studies indicating that the test should not be used as the sole means in major purposes, (Arce, Fariña, & Seijo, 2013; Cousineau, Hall, Rosik, & Hall, 2007; Love & DeArmond,

and value for one self as well as a sense of independence in handling this

The World Health Organization defines quality of life as a person’s perceptions of their position in life in the setting of the culture and value systems in which they live in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns (Krageloh et al., 2011). The WHOQOL-100 was developed by the World Health Organization composed of many different doctors and other healthcare providers in order to develop an assessment that could be used internationally and cross-culturally to measure a person’s overall quality of life and well-being, instead of a specific disease. This assessment led to the development of the WHOQOL-BREF, which is an abbreviated version of the WHOQOL-100 because the WHOQOL-100 is too lengthy for practical use; WHOQOL-BREF includes instructions for administering and scoring the assessment. The purpose of this assessment is to provide quality assessments in healthcare, focus attention on all aspects of health, and produce interventions that increase focus on a patient’s well-being (Harper, 1996). There were three main stages to the development of the WHOQOL assessment. The first stage of development consisted of the establishment of a definition of quality of life and how the assessment would be used internationally. The second stage of development explored the quality of life cross-culturally among different fields to establish relevance to the quality of life assessment. The third stage of

Currently, quality of life (QOL) as a measure of individuals’ subjective feelings on various aspects of life and health is regarded as an important concept. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines QOL 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’(World Health Organization, 1997). To evaluate the extent of QOL, the WHOQOL Group developed an assessment instrument called WHOQOL-BREF, (WHOQoL Group, 1998; World Health Organization, 1996) a shortened, 26-item instrument.

Most of the respondents (n= 128; 53.9%) rated their overall quality of life as very good and good. 40.1% (n=93) reported ‘Neither poor nor good’ overall HRQOL. Whereas, a small percentage had ‘Poor’ (n=8, 3.4%) and ‘Very poor’ (n=6, 2.6%) HRQOL. Major respondents 75.4% (n=175) were satisfied with their health. This finding is consistent