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Measurement of the Quality of Life
Robert D. Orr, MD
Loma Linda University Medical Center Loma Linda, Calif
Arch Fam Med. 1994;3(2):115.
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| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings. |
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Weaver et al1 are to be congratulated for attempting to measure the benefits of gastric tube feeding in elderly patients. Their stated objective was "to develop criteria for predicting the potential benefits of the procedure for different types of patients and thus assist physicians, patients, and families in making decisions about the use of the procedure." It is particularly noteworthy that they have chosen to define benefits in terms of quality of life rather than merely survival. However, quality of life is notoriously difficult to measure since it is personal, subjective, and multidimensional.
Quality of life includes physical, psychological, social, cognitive, and spiritual dimensions as well as an overall assessment of the positivity or negativity of one's life situation. Most of the dozens of research instruments that have been developed to measure quality of life contain from 30 to 50 items and some, as many as 150 items.2
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
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