The conceptual models and empirical findings pertaining to the relationship between health status and quality of life are based on a common sense understanding that there are many aspects of life that may influence a person‟s quality of life. In accordance with these models, we use the term global QOL to mean a person‟s appraisal of life as a whole, as distinguished from the appraisal of particular life domains. We drew from the influential work by Campbell, Converse, and Rodgers to define life domains as “the areas of experience which have significance for all or most people and which may be assumed to contribute in some degree to the general quality of life experience”. They suggested that life domains, such as the physical, psychological, and social domains of life, can be evaluated in terms of the degree of satisfaction with various conditions in life (they used the word attributes to refer to these conditions) that have the potential to contribute to global QOL. Accordingly, the so-called life domains are often evaluated based on responses to questions about a person‟s satisfaction with particular conditions in his or her life. In addition to questions about a person‟s satisfaction with conditions in life, many instruments for the measurement of quality of life also include questions about the perceived status of those conditions. Although it is reasonable to suggest that individuals‟ satisfaction with conditions in life is influenced by their perceived status of those conditions, their satisfaction with life domains may also be influenced by other factors such as various “personal characteristics” and different “standards of comparison”. Different standards of comparison may, for example, be associated with differences in the personal values, expectations, aspirations and needs of individuals. Thus, the degree of satisfaction cannot be synonymous to the perceived status of conditions in life. These two kinds of measures must therefore be represented as distinct variables in conceptual models of the relationships among global QOL, satisfaction with life domains, and health status.
A conceptualization of quality of life
The conceptual models and empirical findings pertaining to the relationship between health status and quality of life are based on a common sense understanding that there are many aspects of life that may influence a person‟s quality of life. In accordance with these models, we use the term global QOL to mean a person‟s appraisal of life as a whole, as distinguished from the appraisal of particular life domains. We drew from the influential work by Campbell, Converse, and Rodgers to define life domains as “the areas of experience which have significance for all or most people and which may be assumed to contribute in some degree to the general quality of life experience”. They suggested that life domains, such as the physical, psychological, and social domains of life, can be evaluated in terms of the degree of satisfaction with various conditions in life (they used the word attributes to refer to these conditions) that have the potential to contribute to global QOL. Accordingly, the so-called life domains are often evaluated based on responses to questions about a person‟s satisfaction with particular conditions in his or her life. In addition to questions about a person‟s satisfaction with conditions in life, many instruments for the measurement of quality of life also include questions about the perceived status of those conditions. Although it is reasonable to suggest that individuals‟ satisfaction with conditions in life is influenced by their perceived status of those conditions, their satisfaction with life domains may also be influenced by other factors such as various “personal characteristics” and different “standards of comparison”. Different standards of comparison may, for example, be associated with differences in the personal values, expectations, aspirations and needs of individuals. Thus, the degree of satisfaction cannot be synonymous to the perceived status of conditions in life. These two kinds of measures must therefore be represented as distinct variables in conceptual models of the relationships among global QOL, satisfaction with life domains, and health status.
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