Concepts and Measurement of Quality of Life in Health Care

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Lennart Nordenfelt

      Pages 1-15

3. The Concept of Quality of Life

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17

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   2. Aristotle on the Good Life and Quality of Life

      • Erik Ostenfeld

      Pages 19-34

   3. Towards a Theory of Happiness: A Subjectivist Notion of Quality of Life

      • Lennart Nordenfelt

      Pages 35-57

   4. Happiness, Life and Quality of Life: A Commentary on Nordenfelt’s ‘Towards a Theory of Happiness’

      • Paolo Cattorini, Roberto Mordacci

      Pages 59-62

   5. On Need and Quality of Life

      • Per-Erik Liss

      Pages 63-78

   6. Needs, Rights and Resources in Quality of Life Research

      • Torbjørn Moum

      Pages 79-93

   7. Does Self-Deception Enhance the Quality of Life?

      • Siri Naess

      Pages 95-114

4. Quality of Life in the Health Care Context: Analytical and Ethical Issues

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 115-115

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   2. Quality of Life: Why Now? A Sociological View

      • Michael Bury

      Pages 117-134

   3. Reflections on the Notion of ‘Quality of Life’

      • Anne Fagot-Largeault

      Pages 135-160

   4. Changing Preferences: Conceptual Problems in Comparing Health-Related Quality of Life

      • Peter Sandøe, Klemens Kappel

      Pages 161-180

   5. Quality of Life and Handicapped People

      • A. W. Musschenga

      Pages 181-198

5. Measuring Quality of Life in Health Care

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 199-199

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   2. The Plausibility of Quality-of-Life Measures in Different Domains of Health Care

      • Ray Fitzpatrick, Gary Albrecht

      Pages 201-227

   3. Analyzing Changes in Health-Related Quality of Life

      • Stefan Björk, Pontus Roos

      Pages 229-240

   4. On General and Need-Related Quality of Life: A Psychological Theory for Use in Medical Rehabilitation and Psychiatry

      • Anton Aggernaes

      Pages 241-255

   5. A Psychiatric and Interactional Perspective on Quality of Life

      • Madis Kajandi

      Pages 257-276

6. Back Matter

   Pages 277-287

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Questions concerning the notion of quality of life, its definition, and its ap­ plications for purposes of assessment and measurement in social and medical contexts, have been widely discussed in Scandinavia during the last ten years. To a great extent this discussion mirrors the international develop­ ment in the area. Several methods for the assessment and measurement of quality of life have been borrowed from the UK and the US and then further developed in northern Europe. But there has also been an internal develop­ ment. This holds in particular for the social arena, where Scandinavia has had a special tradition both in theory and practice. In this volume an attempt is made to illustrate some aspects of the philo­ sophical, and in general theoretical, discussion concerning quality of life in Scandinavia. In addition, some prominent scholars from other parts of Europe, i. e. , France, the Netherlands, the UK and Italy, have been invited to contribute. The volume is divided into three sections. The first contains philosophical analyses of the general notion of quality of life and proposes a number of different explications. The second section considers various ap­ plications of the notion of quality of life in health care. The papers serve to disentangle some intellectual and ethical problems that stem from these ap­ plications. The third section is more practical and focuses on methods of measuring quality of life in medicine and health care.

• Aristotle
• Ethical Issues
• assessment
• health
• issue
• rehabilitation

• Department of Health and Society, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

  Lennart Nordenfelt

Policies and ethics