Quality of life

Department of Public Health Sciences

Home of the
South LondonIStroke Register SLSR

An anthropological estigation of lay and professional meanings of 'Quality of Life'

Funded by:

ESRC (Growing Older Programme) 2000-2001

Study team:

Mr Vincent LaPlaca

Dr Christopher McKevitt*

Prof Charles Wolfe*

Background:

Increasingly, quality of life assessment is routinely used in outcome evaluation and in the monitoring and auditing of services. Although there has been an enormous growth in quality of life research, there appears to be no consistent view about how it should be defined or measured. However, many researchers agree that it must incorporate non-clinical aspects of health such as patients' expectations, social activities and relationships.

Aims:

This study aims to examine the multiple meanings of the concept of quality of life for older stroke patients and the ways in which this concept influences the delivery of healthcare for them. The objectives of the study are to investigate:

the perceptions of health professionals about the constituents and meanings of quality of life for older stroke patients, both as a quantifiable outcome and as a tacit value

the means by which professionals' views of quality of life influence
decision making, practice and policy making regarding to stroke patients; and

the views of stroke survivors about the constituents and meanings of quality of life, comparing them to professionals' concepts

Design:

The research methods include:

ethnographic work on wards and in multidisciplinary team meetings to observe how ideas about quality of life affect decision making processes in acute settings;

open-ended interviews with professionals working with stroke patients;

interviews with stroke patients, investigating their ideas of what constitutes quality of life; and

a national postal survey of professionals delivering elderly and stroke care to explore their views and current use of standardised quality of life instruments.