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Improvement in quality of life is often stated as the ultimate objective of rehabilitation treatment. In spite of the frequent use of this term, however, its definition remains unclear. In particular, there is little information in the literature concerning clients' own perspectives on quality of life. In this qualitative study, seven focus groups were carried out with clients and family members at a large rehabilitation hospital. Using content analysis methods, eighteen dimensions were identified from the group discussions, and these were grouped into seven clusters. The quality of life dimensions identified by clients and family members focussed on social issues and relationships. They were more closely related to the WHO concept of handicap than to the concepts of disability or impairment. Understanding how clients view quality of life provides a framework to focus clinical practice and also to examine rehabilitation outcomes.
Quality of Life (QOL) is an important outcome of medical care, and there is an increasing use of QOL measures in evaluations of treatment effectiveness. This is particularly event in the field of rehabilitation, where improving QOL is often given as the major goal of therapy (Day, 1993). In spite of general agreement concerning the importance of QOL as an outcome, the way in which this concept should be defined and measured is far from clear. There is an exceptionally wide range of both definitions and measures of QOL used by different authors. The objective of this study was to identify, from a client and family perspective, dimensions that help to define QOL within a rehabilitation context.
Review of the Literature
This review outlines some of the issues involved in formulating a suitable definition of QOL. It provides information about some of the definitional issues, including the move toward limiting the concept to include only health-related QOL. It also includes a section relating to the difficulties in measuring QOL.
Definitions of QOL
While there is broad agreement about the necessity of including an index of QOL in evaluations of rehabilitation programs, there is little agreement about the definition of this term. Indeed, there are virtually as many definitions as there are investigators. There appears to be wide agreement that QOL is a multi-dimensional concept, although the dimensions included vary considerably. One of the...