The Health-Related Quality Of Health Literature Review

The medical article talks about researchers on the topic on depression. States that depression affects one in six people in America which approximates to about 17. 6 million people each year. Patients suffering from depression are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease type 2 diabetes. People suffering from depression have also shown suicidal ideation as seen in the Canadian study which 485 of the patients showed the signs.

At the individual level, lack of proper treatment for poor mental health and mental illness has a detrimental effect. At a population level, society also suffers from the burden resulting from the lack of treatment options for poor mental health and mental illness, due to loss of productivity from those crippled by poor mental health and mental illness. Evidence has begun to emerge showing that lack of treatment for mental illness -specifically depressive disorders - has been linked “with increased prevalence of chronic diseases.” Currently it is estimated about 26% of adults in the United States suffer from depression.

Depression is a mental disorder in which a patient might feel intense, prolonged, negative emotions (Beyond Blue, 2014). This can have severe impact on a person's mental and physical health, thus affecting a person's quality of life. Severe cases can even lead to suicide. It is estimated that one in six Australians will experience depression in their lifetime (Beyond Blue, 2014). The burden of disease gives an indication of of the loss of health and well being of Australians due to each disease (ABS, 2010). Depression and anxiety is the leading cause of burden among females, accounting for 10% of burden while it is the third leading cause for men, accounting for 4.8% (AIHW, 2003) (This was the most recent information found).

“Recent data estimate the overall prevalence of depression at about 11.1% of the American population, or nearly 35 million individuals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). A predictive models suggest that up to 50% of the population will experience at least one episode of depression during their lives” (Life Extension, 2014). Depression has negatively affected the lives of many individuals throughout the world. Look around you there may even be someone close to you that is demonstrating signs of its stifling affects. Depression does not discriminate with its suffocating

The WHOQOL surveys were developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess population groups in a variety of situations in an effort to evaluate quality of life across various cultures (University of Washington, 2016). WHOQOL-OLD is one such measure for older adults, which was created in part because other QOL scales like WHOQOL-100 and WHOQOL-BREF did not address some of the more pertinent issues that individuals face in the latter portion of their lives (University of Washington, 2016). Similar to the other quality of life assessment tools created by WHO, WHOQOL-OLD includes basic, yet important quality of life indicators that touch upon the physical, psychological and environmental states of individuals as well as the quality of

2. Andrews, G. & Slade, T. (2001) ‘Interpreting scores on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10)’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Vol 25(6), 494-7.3. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2011) The health of Australia’s prisoners 2010, Cat. No. PHE 149, Canberra.4. Beck, A.T. & Steer, R.A. (1987) Beck Hopelessness Scale Manual. The Psychological Corporation, San Antonio.5. Beck, A. T. & Steer, R. A. (1990) Beck Anxiety Inventory Manual, San Antonio: Psychological Corporation.6. Beck, A.T., Steer, R.A. & Brown, G.K. (1996) Beck Depression Inventory II Manual, The Psychological Corporation, San Antonio.7. Berwick, D., Murphy, J., Goldman, P., Ware, J., Barsky, A. and Weinstein, M., Performance of a five-item mental health screening test, Medical Care 1991, 29:169-176.8. Beyond Blue n.d., ‘Checklists to Identify Depression and Anxiety’, viewed 16 January 2012, 9. Commonwealth of Australia (2009) Fourth National Mental Health Plan, An agenda for collaborative government action in mental health 2009–2014, Attorney-General’s Department, Barton, Australian Capital Territory. 10. Commonwealth of Australia (2009) National Mental Health Policy 2008, Attorney-General’s Department, Barton, Australian Capital Territory.11. Coombs, T. (2005) ‘Australian Mental Health Outcomes and Classification Network; Kessler -10 Training Manual’, NSW Institute of Psychiatry.

One of the main arguments for mental and physical wellbeing receiving the same funding and attention is that mental health can impact physical health drastically (and vice versa). There are various ways in which bad mental health has been shown to be harmful to physical health, mental issues account for 23% of burdening diseases in the UK, these issues also have a dramatic effect on life expectancy. Mental illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia have been linked to heart disease and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, approximately 24 million people suffer from schizophrenia and over 350 million people have depression worldwide. People suffering from serious mental health issues also often experience high blood pressure and high levels of stress hormones therefore an

Clinical depression is an illness that significantly affects the way someone feels; causing a persistent pessimistic mood. There are two main types of depression; post trauma and clinical deposition. This medical condition is often accompanied by a range of other physical and psychological symptoms that can interfere with a person’s everyday life; affecting 6% of Australian adults every year. Symptoms for depression include sleeping pattern disturbances, loss of motivation and interest, feeling worthless or guilty, anxiety and impaired concentration. There are a few ways that this depressive illness can be caused: reaction to a distressing situation like loss or stress; part of an illness such

It has long been speculated that there is a relationship between exercise and it effects on anxiety and depression. However, it is not until recently that research has shown that exercise is associated with positive changes in mood and reductions in anxiety and depression. According to the Mental Health Victoria, depression is characterised by prolonged feelings of sadness, dejection and hopelessness and will affect one in four women and one in six men at some point in their lives. In the United States, anxiety disorders and depression are the most common mental health disorders costing the public $45 billion a year (Berger,

More people suffer from depression than you might think. People of all ages, backgrounds, lifestyles, and nationalities get clinical depression. An estimated 35 to 40 million Americas living today will suffer from major depression at some time during their lives. (4) This is about 13 to 20 percent of all Americans. (1) About half of these individuals will experience recurring depression. (3) Despite being what authorities call "the nation's leading mental health problem" (6), depression is often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed, and therefore not treated. (4) Often as a result, about 25 percent of these people attempt suicide to end their

Quality is one of the most essential elements of healthcare. As stated by the Agency of Health Research and Quality, “Everyday, millions of Americans receive high-quality health care that helps to maintain or restore their health and ability to function” (Agency of Health Research and Quality, 2014). Improvements have become vital to the success of health care organizations and in the Healthcare Quality Book, it is explained that quality in the U.S. healthcare system is not at the standard that it should be (Ransom, Joshi, Nash & Ransom, 2008). Although this has been a reoccurring issue, attempts to fix the insufficiency have been less successful than expected.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Nearly three million Australians live with depression and/or anxiety, which affects their wellbeing, personal relationships, career and productivity”. It is true that the real definition of depression is skewed amongst those in society. Some chose to believe that depression is a normal reaction to life’s stresses, like losing a loved one, getting fired from a job, going through a divorce, and other difficult situations, and that only when these feelings come without reason and persist long term should it be seen as a serious concern. Others believes that depression is no more than a sad feeling that is ignorable, only revealed to people for the sake of attention and the care that comes from pity and sympathy. Personally, I believe that depression is a scientifically proven mental illness, and as it dramatically alters one’s self and has become prevalent in society, it should be discussed with the gravity and urgency deserved to such a pressing topic.

This is even more important as a high proportion of people with physical health conditions also have co-morbid mental health problems, many of these problems go undiagnosed and untreated leading to poorer health outcomes and higher costs of care. In addition, mental health co-morbidities increase hospital costs by 45- 75% per case, the extra costs of physical health care associated with mental health co-morbidities and medically unexplained symptoms amount to around £13.5 billion a year(11). Across a range of conditions, each patient with co-morbid depression costs health services between 30 and 140 per cent more than equivalent patients without depression (4).

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

Dimeo, F., Bauer, M., Varahram, I., Proest, G., and Halter, U. (2001) Benefits from aerobic exercise in patients with major depression: a pilot study. British Journal of Sp