Quality+of+Life

=Quality of Life =

When I was in nursing school, the instructors spent a lot of time talking about "quality of life" (QoL). We discussed ways to measure QoL, ways to choose treatment alternatives based on previous patient's QoL. Obviously, QoL is important, maybe the most important, measure of life choices, but it is extremely fuzzy and subjective. Surveys of many QoL research studies show several surprising results. First, Quality of Life shows little correlation to Standard of Living above a minimum income level; that is, rich people are not happier. Second, the scales used in many health-related QoL studies have steps that are specific to each survey, but survey responders are generally not able to discriminate more than 7 steps (about 1/2 standard deviation per step).

How do we use a QoL criteria to help students who are cognitively low, or autistic? What is important? The GDRC describes QoL as 3 domains: Being, Belonging, and Becoming.

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