Quality Life Research

The aim of this encyclopedia is to provide a comprehensive reference work on scientific and other scholarly research on the quality of life, including health-related quality of life research or also called patient-reported outcomes research. Since the 1960s two overlapping but fairly distinct research communities and traditions have developed concerning ideas about the quality of life, individually and collectively, one with a fairly narrow focus on health-related issues and one with a quite broad focus. In many ways, the central issues of these fields have roots extending to the observations and speculations of ancient philosophers, creating a continuous exploration by diverse explorers in diverse historic and cultural circumstances over several centuries of the qualities of human existence. What we have not had so far is a single, multidimensional reference work connecting the most salient and important contributions to the relevant fields.

The impact of illness on individual lives and society at large was once considered too vast to gauge. More recently, quantitative measures of quality of life, life expectancy, and the financial costs of illness and treatment are showing not only how this impact can be calculated but also how the results can be used to further research and improve public health. The Handbook of Disease Burdens and Quality of Life Measures is the first comprehensive reference to these instruments and their findings on an international scale.

The impact of illness on individual lives and society at large was once considered too vast to gauge. More recently, quantitative measures of quality of life, life expectancy, and the financial costs of illness and treatment are showing not only how this impact can be calculated but also how the results can be used to further research and improve public health. The Handbook of Disease Burdens and Quality of Life Measures is the first comprehensive reference to these instruments and their findings on an international scale.

This volume presents an account of how people in sub-Saharan Africa have fared under changing life circumstances of the past centuries until the present. By introducing the geography of the region it traces a time line of different historical periods that have shaped livelihoods of ordinary people of the region, and addresses the major milestones in political and economic development.

This book highlights measurement tools for HRQoL, as well as predictors and modifiers, examining HRQoL in various disease states, including psychological health. It discusses ethical issues in the use of HRQoL measurements. The book is a compendium of original research, sharing perspectives from across developing and developed world settings. It is a useful text for researchers and students of academic disciplines in public health and clinical studies, extending to healthcare administrators and policymakers.

This volume provides a window into what influences the quality of life, why people live longer, and why we are relatively better off compared to decades ago. This volume provides useful insight into these challenges and helps to highlight a clear and important separation between wellbeing and standard of living, both relevant to assessing the quality of life.

The chapters in this book focus on the physical, social, and emotional components of the concept of quality of life. How diseases affect the quality of life of people is mainly discussed. This research and research results in the book will be used to increase the quality of life by health professionals. This book will attract not only health workers but also environmentalists and social scientists and behavioral scientists.

This volume examines progress in sustainable and resilient development of niche forms of tourism from a health and wellbeing perspective. It also aims to offer deep and innovative insights on the supporting role of non-pharmaceutical interventions to enhance resilience and wellbeing of visited and visiting communities. A comparative and critical discourse of the role of hard medicine is also offered, from both a core and supplementary perspective, particularly, from eudaimonic and physiologically restorative standpoints. Furthermore, indigenous non-pharmaceutical interventions and spiritual healing mechanisms are discussed in the context of their potential to facilitate long term immunity and happiness.

This book examines subjective wellbeing in China in terms of life and job satisfaction from a longitudinal perspective during the last decade. Using quantitative methods, the research presented in this volume performed a longitudinal analysis of data collected by the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from 2010 to 2018 to study the effects of social and economic transformations on life and job satisfaction among the Chinese population in this period.

This volume examines progress in sustainable and resilient development of niche forms of tourism from a health and wellbeing perspective. It also aims to offer deep and innovative insights on the supporting role of non-pharmaceutical interventions to enhance resilience and wellbeing of visited and visiting communities. A comparative and critical discourse of the role of hard medicine is also offered, from both a core and supplementary perspective, particularly, from eudaimonic and physiologically restorative standpoints. Furthermore, indigenous non-pharmaceutical interventions and spiritual healing mechanisms are discussed in the context of their potential to facilitate long term immunity and happiness.