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Quality of life indicators and health: Current status and emerging conceptions

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Abstract

Quality of life is an increasingly common theme in the health status and health promotion literatures. Six approaches that consider quality of life and health are reviewed. These are (a) health-related quality of life; (b) quality of life as social diagnosis in health promotion; (c) quality of life among persons with developmental disabilities; (d) quality of life as social indicators; (e) the Centre for Health Promotion (University of Toronto) model, and (f) Lindstrom's quality of life model. Each approach is considered as to its emphasis on objective or subjective indicators, individual or system-level measurement, value-laden or value-neutral assumptions, and potential relationship to social policy and social change goals. The links among the social indicators, quality of life, and health promotions areas are examined.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Behavioural Science, University of Toronto, McMurrich Building, M5S 1A8, Toronto, Ontario, USA

    Dennis Raphael, Rebecca Renwick, Ivan Brown & Irving Rootman

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  1. Dennis Raphael
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Raphael, D., Renwick, R., Brown, I. et al. Quality of life indicators and health: Current status and emerging conceptions. Soc Indic Res 39, 65–88 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00300833

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