Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T21:04:56.238Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Quality of life measurement in the medical setting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

P Bech*
Affiliation:
Psykiatrisk Afdeling P. Hillerod Sygehus, Helsevej 2, 3500Hillerod, Denmark
Get access

Summary

Quality of life became a paradigm in the medical setting two decades ago. Although ‘humanistic’ psychologists still maintain that what can be specified and measured is precisely what is not quality of life, time has shown that the major components of quality of life in health and disease can be measured with an acceptable internal as well as external validity. Quality of life in randomized clinical trials is now the third dimension to be measured, the other dimensions are efficacy of the drug and adverse drug reactions. Among the major areas of external validity quality of life scales (eg the PCASEE questionnaire and the Psychological General Well-Being Schedule) have discriminating validity (the discrimination between treatments), predictive-validity (the prediction of relapse of illness), and teological validity (defining goal of treatment).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier, Paris 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatriv Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth edition (DSM-IV) Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1994Google Scholar
Bech, P ed. Rating scales for psychopathology, health status and quality of life Berlin: Springer, 1993CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bech, PSubjective well-being and health-related quality of life: the PCASEE model. In: Orley, J ed. The measurement of quality of life in health care settings Berlin: Springer, 1994Google Scholar
Børup, CUnden, MCombined fluoxetine and disulfiram treatment of alcoholism with comorbid affective disorders. Eur Psychiatry 1994;9:8390CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croog, SHLevine, STesta, MAThe effects of antihypertensive therapy on the quality of life. N Engl J Med 1986 314 1657–67CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dupuy, HJThe psychological general well-being scale (PGWB). In: Wenger, NKMattson, MEFurberg, CDElinson, J ed. Assessment of quality of life in clinical trials of cardiovascular therapies New York: Le Jacq Publishing, 1984 184–8Google Scholar
Kelly, GA ed. The psychology of personal constructs New York: Norton, 1955Google Scholar
Loevinger, J ed. Paradigms of personality New York: WH Freeman, 1987Google Scholar
Testa, MAAnderson, RBNackley, JFHollenberg, NKQuality of life antihypertensive therapy in men. A comparison of captopril and enalapril. N Engl J Med 1993; 328: 907–13CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thunedborg, KAllerup, PBech, PJoyce, CRBDevelopment of the repertory grid for measurement of individual quality of life in clinical trials. Int J Meth Psychiat Res 1993; 3: 4556Google Scholar
Thunedborg, KBlack, CHBech, PBeyond the Hamilton Depression Scores in long-term treatment of manic-melancholic patients: prediction of recurrence of depression by quality of life measurements. Psychother Psychosom 1995 in pressCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, KBStewart, AHays, RDThe functioning of well-being of depressed patients: Results from the Medical Outcomes Study. J Am Med Assoc 1989; 262: 914–19CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.