Quality of life

Prevalence, Intensity and Extent of Oral Impact on Daily Performances and their relationship to Oral health problems among rural females

by IOMC Conference

Dr. Arpit Gupta 1*, Dr. Anil V. Ankola 1, Dr. Mamata Hebbal 1
1 Public Health Dentistry, KLE VK Institute of Dental Sciences, KLE University, Belgaum – 590010, India.
doc.arpit.gupta@gmail.com

Treatment options, clinical outcome (quality of life) and cost benefit (quality-adjusted life year) in varicose vein treatment

by Tristan Lane

A Preliminary Study on the Reliability of the Malay Version of the Quality of Life Inventory™ Version 4.0 (PEDSQL) Generic Core Scales among Children with …

by IJCRIMPH Journal

‘Hope’ for children and youth in a challenging world?

by Penny Moore

Assesing Middle Chileans' Quality of Life: The Case of La Florida's Families

by Colombina Schaeffer

This report was born out of a collaborative effort with Professor Michael Pusey (UNSW). Pusey´s research was concerned... more This report was born out of a collaborative effort with Professor Michael Pusey (UNSW). Pusey´s research was concerned with understanding how middle Australians´ quality of life changed after economic reform during the Howard Government. As a result, Pusey published a book: "The Experience of Middle Australia: The Dark Side of Economic Reform" (2003). Based on Pusey´s research, we decided to conduct a research project in Chile relying on Pusey´s experience and research.

Evaluating clinical outcomes of PDT

by Teresa Goodell

QUALITY OF LIFE IN AN URBAN VILLAGE : Shakarpur (khas), Delhi, India...

by Anuj Kumar Soni

DISSERTATION

The fast growing city of Delhi is forgetting something behind it. Urban villages of Delhi are thrown
aside in the... more The fast growing city of Delhi is forgetting something behind it. Urban villages of Delhi are thrown
aside in the race. This unparalleled growth of Delhi has lost the vast agricultural land. In this process,
villages lost their identity, space and value as they became dependent upon urban areas. Their
presence is getting lost in the crowd of Delhi. City and villages are growing parallel trying to contrast
with each other, still in the different perspective. Identity of villages has been lost and they are denied
by the city as unwanted. City underestimates the people and culture of these areas. These villages lack
healthy living conditions with proper light and ventilation and growth. Villages are destroying
themselves in lack of proper guidance and education. My study is concerned with exploring the role
of an Urban Village in Delhi. My research is concerned about the quality of life of people living in an
Urban Village and their existence in the city.

The efficacy of dance movement therapy group on improvement of quality of life: A randomized controlled trial

by Iris Bräuninger

Bräuninger, I. (In Press). The Arts in Psychotherapy. Accepted Manuscript, Available online 29 March 2012. doi:10.1016/j.aip.2012.03.008

Abstract
This study examines the treatment outcome of a 10 weeks dance movement therapy intervention on Quality... more Abstract
This study examines the treatment outcome of a 10 weeks dance movement therapy intervention on Quality of life (QOL). The multicentered study used a between subject-design with pre-test, post-test, and six months follow-up test. 162 participants who suffered from stress were randomly assigned to the dance movement therapy treatment group (TG) (n= 97) and the wait-listed control group (WG) (65). The World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire 100 (WHOQOL-100) and Munich Life Dimension List were used in both groups at all three measurement points. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed that dance movement therapy participants in all QOL dimensions always more than the WG. In the short term, they significantly improved in the Psychological domain (p>.001, WHOQOL; p>.01, Munich Life Dimension List), Social relations/life (p>.10, WHOQOL; p>.10, Munich Life Dimension List), Global value (p>.05, WHOQOL), Physical health (p>.05, Munich Life Dimension List), and General life (p>.10, Munich Life Dimension List). In the long term, dance movement therapy significantly enhanced the psychological domain  (p>.05, WHOQOL; p>.05, Munich Life Dimension List), Spirituality (p>.10, WHOQOL), and General life (p>.05, Munich Life Dimension List). Dance movement therapy is effective in the short- and long-term to improve QOL.
Keywords: Dance therapy, Dance movement therapy, Research, Quality of Life (QOL), Randomized controlled trial, Treatment outcome and Efficacy.

Vilhauer, R.P. (2008). A qualitative study of the experiences of women with metastatic breast cancer. Palliative and Supportive Care 6(3): 249-258.

by Ruvanee Vilhauer

Contact vilhauerr@felician.edu for the manuscript.

ABSTRACT


Objective: My objective was to investigate the experiences of women diagnosed with... more ABSTRACT


Objective: My objective was to investigate the experiences of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.

Method: I did a qualitative study based on interview data. Fourteen women with metastatic breast cancer were recruited into a larger study of online support group use. Participants were interviewed by phone.

Results: The women indicated that they experience distress because of concerns about body image, declines in aspects of their sexual lives, and worries about the effect of stress on their illness. The stress that worries these women comes from fear of dying, fear of disease progression and debilitation, the loss of their future, and practical concerns. The women were also likely to experience a decline in daily activity after being diagnosed with metastatic disease. They become less active because of the physical symptoms of the illness and the side effects of treatments, the medicalization of their lifestyle, their desire to avoid stressful situations, the constraints imposed by their social world, and the need to maintain disability benefits. Although women are often in need of emotional and material support from others after they are diagnosed, social support can decrease, both because women find it difficult to be open about the difficulties they face and because the responses of others are not adequately supportive. Distress and declines in daily activity and social support can feed into each other to create a vicious circle.

Significance of results: This paper makes a significant contribution to the literature by providing a rich description of how metastatic breast cancer affects women. Further research, with more diverse samples, is needed in this understudied area.

The role of religion and spirituality on the quality of life of rare diseases patients

by Ioan Popoviciu

Salomea Popoviciu, Delia Birle, Serban Olah (2012). Review of Research and Social Intervention.

This study explored the relationship between religious beliefs and spiritual beliefs and the quality of life of... more This study explored the relationship between religious beliefs and spiritual beliefs and the quality of life of Romanian rare disease patients. Specifically, the study, firstly, analyzed the correlations between self-reported life satisfaction and
participants’ beliefs in heaven, afterlife and God. Secondly, correlations between self-reported optimism and participants’ belief in the role of spirituality and life meaning were studied. Thirdly, the relationship between self-reported health and
church attendance, importance of church and importance God for Romanian rare disease patients were examined. Implications for social workers, counselors and health providers were also discussed.

The role of religious beliefs and spirituality on the quality of life of rare diseases patients

by Salomea Popoviciu

Co-authored with Delia Birle, Ioan Popoviciu & Serban Olah

This study explored the relationship between religious beliefs and spiritual beliefs and the quality of life of... more This study explored the relationship between religious beliefs and spiritual beliefs and the quality of life of Romanian rare disease patients. Specifically, the study, firstly, analyzed the correlations between self-reported life satisfaction and participants’ beliefs in heaven, afterlife and God. Secondly, correlations between self-reported optimism and participants’ belief in the role of spirituality and life meaning were studied. Thirdly, the relationship between self-reported health and church attendance, importance of church and importance God for Romanian rare disease patients were examined. Implications for social workers, counselors and health providers were also discussed.

Chronically ill patients treated by spiritual healing improve in quality of life: Results of a randomized waiting-list controlled study. Wiesendanger, H., Werthmüller, L., Reuter, K. & Walach, H. (2001) Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 7: 45-51.

by Harald Walach

Link to Full Text: Link to Full Text: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/107555301300004529

Quality of life assessment in heart failure interventions: a ten year (1996-2005) review

by Karen Morgan

co-authored with McGee, H., Shelley, E. 

published in European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, 2007, 14, 589-607.

The increasing prevalence and poor prognosis associated with heart failure have prompted research to focus on... more The increasing prevalence and poor prognosis associated with heart failure have prompted research to focus on improving quality of life (QoL) for heart failure patients. Research from 1996-2005 was systematically reviewed to identify randomized controlled trials that assessed QoL in heart failure. In 120 studies, 44 were medication trials; 19 surgical/procedural interventions; and 57 patient care/service delivery interventions. Studies were summarized in terms of aim, population, QoL measures used and QoL findings. Studies used 47 different measures of QoL-generic, health-related, condition-specific, domain-specific and utility measures. Most used a single QoL measure. In 87%, a condition specific QoL measure was used, with the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire being the favoured assessment tool. The range of QoL measures in use poses challenges for development of cumulative knowledge. Although comparability across studies is important, this must be informed by the responsiveness of the instrument selected. As carried out in other cardiac groups, comparative evaluations of instrument responsiveness are needed in heart failure

Quality of Life and Beliefs about Ageing

by Karen Morgan

Co-authored with McGee H, Hickey A, Burke H. 
In: Alan Barrett, George Savva, Virpi Timonen and Rose Anne Kenny (eds) Fifty plus in Ireland 2011: First results from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Dublin; 2011. p265.

A Comparison of Alternative Models of Individual Quality of Life for Social Service Recipients

by Laura Elísabet Gómez

Quality of life 􏰀 Quality of life models 􏰀 Structural equation modeling 􏰀 Validity 􏰀 Social service recipients

There is considerable debate in the area of individual quality of life research regarding the factor structure of the... more There is considerable debate in the area of individual quality of life research regarding the factor structure of the QOL construct that is focused on the number and composition of QOL factors and domains, and its hierarchical nature. The main goal of this study involve testing by means of confirmatory factor analyses five models that have been pointed out by recent scientific literature: firstly, an unidimensional model; secondly, a QOL model that consisted of eight inter-correlated domains proposed by Schalock and Verdugo (2002); thirdly, a model composed of these eight 1st-order factors and one 2nd- order factor; the forth and five are model with the eight 1st-order factors and three 2nd-order factor that has been denominated in other studies ‘Salamanca model’ and ‘Schalock model’. Data were collected from 3.029 social service recipients from Catalonia (Spain) who completed the GENCAT Scale, an objective QOL questionnaire. The best fit of the eight inter-correlated and 1st order domains was empirically demonstrated. Impli- cations for future research are also discussed.

Type D personality and three-month psychosocial outcomes among patients post-myocardial infarction

by Lynn Williams

Williams, L., O’Connor, R.C., Grubb, N. & O’Carroll, R.E. (in press). Type D personality and three-month psychosocial outcomes among patients post-myocardial infarction. Journal of Psychosomatic Research.

Objective: Type D personality has been proposed as a risk factor for poor prognosis in cardiac patients. Recent... more Objective: Type D personality has been proposed as a risk factor for poor prognosis in cardiac patients. Recent studies which have adopted a dimensional approach to Type D (negative affectivity x social inhibition) found no effect of Type D on mortality, after controlling for its constituent elements. To-date, no study has determined if Type D is associated with psychosocial outcomes in post-myocardial infarction (MI) patients when conceptualised as a dimensional variable. Methods: Participants were 192 MI patients (138 males, 54 females, mean age 66.0 years) who provided demographic and clinical information, and completed measures of Type D one-week post-MI. Three months later, 131 of these MI patients completed measures of disability and quality of life. Results: Using regression analyses, adjusted for demographic and clinical data, Type D emerged as a significant predictor of disability and quality of life in MI patients, when analysed using the traditional categorical approach. However, Type D did not predict disability and quality of life when it was analysed using the interaction of negative affectivity and social inhibition. Negative affect emerged as a significant predictor of both disability (=.433, t(130)=3.53, p<.01), and quality of life (=-.624, t(130)=-5.68, p<.001). Conclusions: The results suggest that Type D is not associated with short-term psychosocial outcome in MI patients, after controlling for its constituent elements. However, negative affect was significantly associated with both disability and quality of life. Future research should conceptualise Type D as the interaction between negative affectivity and social inhibition, rather than as a typology.

Reconciling the needs and wants of respondents in two rural Ethiopian communities

by Tom Lavers

Published in Social Indicators Research

This paper uses the Quality of Life research carried out by the Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD) Research Group... more This paper uses the Quality of Life research carried out by the Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD) Research Group to examine the importance respondents have attributed to a variety of goals in two rural communities in Ethiopia. The results are analysed at the community, household and individual levels to expose the contestation involved in expressions of goal preference at different levels, and the power relations that underlie and contribute to the formation of these goal preferences. In this way, taking communities or households as homogenous units is shown to be inaccurate and potentially misleading. Analysis of individual case studies also provides insight into the complex decision-making process where people with access to limited resources are forced to give certain goals priority depending on current exigencies. The fact that the ordering of priorities can change with time highlights the dangers of any one-off measure being considered as a time-independent picture of individuals’ goals. By relating the results of the research to Doyal and Gough’s Theory of Human Need, the paper considers to what extent ‘universal’ human needs correspond to the most important goals as expressed by respondents in the Ethiopian research. Whilst considerable support is found for needs such as health, food and shelter, several respondents in the two research sites consider needs such as education to be unnecessary. This incongruence between the priority of people’s goals and theories of need leads us to question what the aim of development should be: to assist beneficiaries in the pursuit of what they want, or provide the things that they are thought to need.

Unmet needs, quality of life and support networks of people with dementia living at home

by Claudia Miranda

Quality of life in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia: A literature review.

by Claudia Miranda

Palliative care needs of patients with cancer living in the community

by Dio Kavalieratos