Defining Quality of Life: A Wild-Goose Chase?
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Barcaccia, Barbara
Esposito, Giuseppe
Matarese, Maria
Bertolaso, Marta
Elvira, Marta
De Marinis, Maria Grazia
Abstract / Description
In the last decades there has been a growing interest towards the concept of “Quality of Life” (QoL), not only in the bio-medical field, but also in other areas, such as sociology, psychology, economics, philosophy, architecture, journalism, politics, environment, sports, recreation, advertisements. Nevertheless QoL does turn out to be an ambiguous and elusive concept – a precise, clear and shared definition appears to be a long way off. In this article an analysis of how QoL is interpreted and defined in various scientific articles published in the last two decades, is offered. In addition, an illustration of how widespread the use of this concept is in different fields of knowledge, the difficulties in reaching a shared understanding of QoL, the problems involved in stating clearly the construct, and a presentation of some of its conceptualizations, are provided. The importance of subjectivity in the definition of what QoL is, emerges as a key aspect. This personal and subjective dimension could be the starting point for a more thorough and holistic understanding of this concept, in which standardized sets of valid, reliable and evidence-based measures of, e.g., psychological and spiritual dimensions, are encompassed in the person’s quality of life evaluation.
Keyword(s)
quality of life subjectivity acceptance multidimensionality physical health psychological health ethicsPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2013-02-28
Journal title
Europe's Journal of Psychology
Volume
9
Issue
1
Page numbers
185–203
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Barcaccia, B., Esposito, G., Matarese, M., Bertolaso, M., Elvira, M., & De Marinis, M. G. (2013). Defining Quality of Life: A Wild-Goose Chase? Europe's Journal of Psychology, 9(1), 185–203. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v9i1.484
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Barcaccia, Barbara
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Esposito, Giuseppe
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Matarese, Maria
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Bertolaso, Marta
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Elvira, Marta
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Author(s) / Creator(s)De Marinis, Maria Grazia
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-21T10:00:53Z
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Made available on2018-11-21T10:00:53Z
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Date of first publication2013-02-28
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Abstract / DescriptionIn the last decades there has been a growing interest towards the concept of “Quality of Life” (QoL), not only in the bio-medical field, but also in other areas, such as sociology, psychology, economics, philosophy, architecture, journalism, politics, environment, sports, recreation, advertisements. Nevertheless QoL does turn out to be an ambiguous and elusive concept – a precise, clear and shared definition appears to be a long way off. In this article an analysis of how QoL is interpreted and defined in various scientific articles published in the last two decades, is offered. In addition, an illustration of how widespread the use of this concept is in different fields of knowledge, the difficulties in reaching a shared understanding of QoL, the problems involved in stating clearly the construct, and a presentation of some of its conceptualizations, are provided. The importance of subjectivity in the definition of what QoL is, emerges as a key aspect. This personal and subjective dimension could be the starting point for a more thorough and holistic understanding of this concept, in which standardized sets of valid, reliable and evidence-based measures of, e.g., psychological and spiritual dimensions, are encompassed in the person’s quality of life evaluation.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationBarcaccia, B., Esposito, G., Matarese, M., Bertolaso, M., Elvira, M., & De Marinis, M. G. (2013). Defining Quality of Life: A Wild-Goose Chase? Europe's Journal of Psychology, 9(1), 185–203. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v9i1.484
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ISSN1841-0413
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1173
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1365
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v9i1.484
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Keyword(s)quality of lifeen_US
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Keyword(s)subjectivityen_US
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Keyword(s)acceptanceen_US
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Keyword(s)multidimensionalityen_US
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Keyword(s)physical healthen_US
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Keyword(s)psychological healthen_US
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Keyword(s)ethicsen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleDefining Quality of Life: A Wild-Goose Chase?en_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue1
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Journal titleEurope's Journal of Psychology
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Page numbers185–203
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Volume9
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record