On the Possibility of a Conceptual Model of Quality of Life
##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.sidebar##
Published
Nov 26, 2023
Download
Statistic
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.main##
Abstract
Up to now, quality of life (QOL) research has been guided by several conceptual frameworks that allow for the generation of rather general approaches to QOL with very fragmented explanatory contributions, while no specific conceptual models can be identified in the literature. This paper, which is based on a critical review of mainstream literature, aims to highlight the main difficulties in building a conceptual model of QOL and to propose a model that can overcome some of the current issues. The difficulties in constructing such a conceptual model stem mainly from the variety of definitions and the range assigned to the concept of QOL, the consequent operationalisation of the concept, the relativity and multidimensionality of the concept and the subsequent problems with unidimensional measures. This paper proposes a conceptual model that adopts an individual perspective on the theoretical construct and introduces several novel ideas for building a comprehensive explanatory framework for QOL. The following developments and improvements are suggested with the purpose of clarifying the intricate field of QOL research and closing in on a conceptual model: honing in on essential dimensions instead of constantly expanding the concept, increasing the effort put into theorising about QOL, adopting a life course perspective, generating longitudinal data and utilising research on agency. There is a high need for the development of a conceptual model of QOL and the concurrent integration of QOL approaches, at least at the European level, as this would contribute to fostering the advancement of the QOL research field and highlighting core European values regarding QOL standards.
##plugins.themes.academic_pro.article.details##
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
Precupețu, I. (2023). On the Possibility of a Conceptual Model of Quality of Life. Sociologie Românească, 21(2), 9-28. https://doi.org/10.33788/sr.21.2.1
References
Allardt, E. (1993). Having, loving, being: an alternative to the Swedish model of welfare research, in M. Nussbaum, & A. Sen (eds.), The quality of life research, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 88-94.
Andrews, F. M. (1974). Social indicators of perceived life quality, Social Indicators Research, 1, 3, 279-299.
Andrews, F.M., & Withey, S.B. (1976). Social Indicators of Well-being: America’s Perception of Quality of Life. New York: Plenum.
Bălțătescu, S. (2009). Fericirea în contextul social al tranziţiei postcomuniste din România. Oradea: Editura Universităţii din Oradea.
Berger Schmidt, R., & Noll, H.H. (2000). Conceptual Framework and Structure of a European System of Social Indicators. EU Reporting Paper no 9, Mannheim: Center for Social research and Methodology.
Boelhouwer, J., & Stoop, I. (1999). Measuring well-being in the Netherlands: The SCP index from 1974 to 1997, Social Indicators Research, 48, 51-75.
Brady, S.S., Brubaker, L., Fok, C.S., Gahagan, S., Lewis, C.E., Lewis, J, Lowder, J.L., Nodora, J., Stapleton, A., & Palmer, M.H. (2020). Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (PLUS) Research Consortium. Development of Conceptual Models to Guide Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy: Synthesizing Traditional and Contemporary Paradigms, Health Promotion Practice, 21, 4, 510-524. doi: 10.1177/1524839919890869.
Burholt, V., Winter, B., Aartsen, M., Constantinou, C., Dahlberg, L., Feliciano, V., De Jong Gierveld, J., Van Regenmortel, S., Waldegrave, C. (2020). A critical review and development of a conceptual model of exclusion from social relations for older people, European Journal of Ageing, 17, 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-019-00506-0.
Dannefer, D. (2002). Whose life course is it, anyway? in R. Settersten (ed.), Invitation to the life course, Amityville, NY: Baywood.
Cairns, R. B., Elder, G. H., & Costello, E. J. (1996). Developmental science. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Choi, E. H., Kang, M. J., Lee, H. J., & Yun, M. S. (2021). A Latent Class Analysis of Health-Related Quality of Life in Korean Older Adults, International journal of environmental research and public health, 18, 15, 7874. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157874.
Cummins, R.A., Eckersley, R., Pallant, J., Jackie van Vugt, J., & Misajon, R. (2003). Developing a National Index of Subjective Wellbeing: The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, Social Indicators Research, 64, 159-190. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024704320683.
Crosnoe, R., & Elder, G. H., Jr. (2004). From Childhood to the Later Years: Pathways of Human Development, Research on Aging, 26, 6, 623-654.
Diener, E. (1995). A value-based index for measuring national quality of life, Social Indicators Research, 36, 107-127.
Elder, G. H., Jr. (1998). Life course and human development, in W. Damon (ed), Handbook of child psychology, New York: Wiley, 939-991.
Elder Jr., G. H., Kirkpatrick Johnson, M., & Crosnoe, R. (2002). The Emergence and Development of Life Course Theory, in J. T. Mortimer, & M. J. Shanahan (eds.), Handbook of the Life Course, New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 3-19.
Erikson, R. (1993). Descriptions of Inequality: The Swedish Approach to Welfare Research, in M. Nussbaum, & A. Sen (eds.), The Quality of Life, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Eurofound (2020). Living, working and COVID-19, COVID-19 series, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Eurostat (2017). Final report of the expert group on quality of life indicators, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Fahey, T., Nolan, B., & Whelan, C. (2003). Monitoring Living Conditions and Quality of Life in Europe, Luxemburg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Finfgeld-Connett, D. (2014). Use of content analysis to conduct knowledge-building and theory-generating qualitative systematic reviews, Qualitative Research, 14, 3, 341-352. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794113481790.
Grant, M.J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies, Health Information and Libraries Journal, 26, 2. 91-108 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x.
Hagerty, M. R., Cummins, R., Ferriss, A. L., Land, K., Michalos, A. C., Peterson, M., Sharpe, A., Sirgy, J., & Vogel, J. (2001). Quality of Life Indexes for National Policy: Review and Agenda for Research, Bulletin of Sociological Methodology/Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, 71,1, 58-78. https://doi.org/10.1177/075910630107100104.
Maggino, F., & Facioni, C. (2017). Measuring Stability and Change: Methodological Issues in Quality of Life studies, Social Indicators Research, 130, 161-187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-1129-9
Mărginean, I. (1991). Schiţă de indicatori ai calităţii vieţii, Calitatea Vieţii, 3-4, 3-24.
Mărginean, I. (2003). Cercetarea şi monitorizarea calităţii vieţii în ţările UE şi în ţările candidate, Calitatea Vieţii, 14, 3-4, 431-435.
Mărginean, I. (2005). Semnificaţia cercetărilor de calitatea vieţii, in I. Mărginean, & A. Bălaşa (eds.), Calitatea vieţii în România, Bucureşti: Editura Expert.
Mărginean, I., & Bălaşa, A. (eds.) ([2002], 2005). Calitatea Vieţii în România. Bucureşti: Editura Expert.
Mărginean, I., & Precupeţu, I. (eds.) (2008). Calitatea vieţii şi dezvoltarea durabilă. Politici de întărire a coeziunii sociale. Bucureşti: Editura Expert.
Mărginean, I., & Precupeţu, I. (eds.) (2011). Paradigma calității vieții. Bucureşti: Editura Academiei Române.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation, Psychological Review, 50, 4, 370-396.
Michalos, A.C., Smale, B., Labonté, R., Muharjarine, N., Scott, K., Moore, K., Swystun, L., Holden, B., Bernardin, H., Dunning, B., Graham, P., Guhn, M., Gadermann, A.M., Zumbo, B.D., Morgan, A., Brooker, A.-S., & Hyman, I. (2011). The Canadian Index of Wellbeing. Technical Report 1.0. Waterloo, ON: Canadian Index of Wellbeing and University of Waterloo.
Nardo, M., Saisana, M., Saltelli, A., Tarantola, S., Hoffman, A., & Giovannini, E. (2005). Handbook on constructing composite indicators: methodology and user guide, Paris: OECD Statistics Working Paper.
Noll, H.H. (2002). Towards a European System of Social Indicators: Theoretical Framework and System Architecture, Social Indicators Research book series, 47-87. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47513-8_4.
Noll, H.H. (2014). European System of Social Indicators, in A.C. Michalos (eds.), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_3448.
OECD (2008). Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators. Methodology and User Guide. https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/handbookonconstructingcompositeindicatorsmethodologyanduserguide.htm.
OECD (2020). How's Life? 2020: Measuring Well-being. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9870c393-en.
Saisana, M., & Tarantola, S. (2002). State-of-the-art report on current methodologies and practices for composite indicator development, EUR 20408 EN, Italy: European Commission-JRC. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/9253d939-b47b-4428-b792-619e6b6c8645.
Saltelli, A. (2007). Composite indicators between analysis and advocacy, Social Indicators Research, 81, 1, 65-77.
Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sirgy, M. J., Michalos, A. C., Ferriss, A. L., Easterlin, R. A., Patrick, D, & Pavot, W. (2006). The Quality-of-Life (QOL) Research Movement: Past, Present, and Future, Social Indicators Research, 76, 343-466.
Stiglitz, J. E., Sen, A., & Fitoussi, J. P. (2009). Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/documents/rapport_anglais.pdf.
The WHOQOL Group (1998b). Development of the World Health Organization WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment, Psychological Medicine, 28, 3, 551-558.
The WHOQOL Group (1998a). The World Health Organization quality of life assessment (WHOQOL): Development and general psychometric properties, Social Science and Medicine, 46, 12, 1569-1585.
Veenhoven, R. (1996). Happy life-expectancy. A comprehensive measure of quality-of-life in nations, Social Indicators research, 39, 1, 1-58.
Zamfir, C. (ed.) (1984). Indicatori și surse de variație a calității vieții. București: Editura Academiei RSR.
Zamfir, E. (1989). Incursiune în universul uman: noi ipostaze și dimensiuni ale fericirii. București: Albatros
Zamfir, E. (2018). Calitatea vieții în strategiile de dezvoltare, in E. Zamfir, & I. Precupețu (eds), Calitatea vieții, Un proiect pentru România, București: Editura Academiei Române, 7-17.
Weismayer, C. (2021). Applied Research in Quality of Life: A Computational Literature Review, Applied Research in Quality of Life. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-021-09969-9.
World Health Organization (2010). A Conceptual Framework for Action on the Social Determinants of Health. Discussion Paper. WHO Document Production Services, Geneva, Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.13016/17cr-aqb9.
Andrews, F. M. (1974). Social indicators of perceived life quality, Social Indicators Research, 1, 3, 279-299.
Andrews, F.M., & Withey, S.B. (1976). Social Indicators of Well-being: America’s Perception of Quality of Life. New York: Plenum.
Bălțătescu, S. (2009). Fericirea în contextul social al tranziţiei postcomuniste din România. Oradea: Editura Universităţii din Oradea.
Berger Schmidt, R., & Noll, H.H. (2000). Conceptual Framework and Structure of a European System of Social Indicators. EU Reporting Paper no 9, Mannheim: Center for Social research and Methodology.
Boelhouwer, J., & Stoop, I. (1999). Measuring well-being in the Netherlands: The SCP index from 1974 to 1997, Social Indicators Research, 48, 51-75.
Brady, S.S., Brubaker, L., Fok, C.S., Gahagan, S., Lewis, C.E., Lewis, J, Lowder, J.L., Nodora, J., Stapleton, A., & Palmer, M.H. (2020). Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (PLUS) Research Consortium. Development of Conceptual Models to Guide Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy: Synthesizing Traditional and Contemporary Paradigms, Health Promotion Practice, 21, 4, 510-524. doi: 10.1177/1524839919890869.
Burholt, V., Winter, B., Aartsen, M., Constantinou, C., Dahlberg, L., Feliciano, V., De Jong Gierveld, J., Van Regenmortel, S., Waldegrave, C. (2020). A critical review and development of a conceptual model of exclusion from social relations for older people, European Journal of Ageing, 17, 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-019-00506-0.
Dannefer, D. (2002). Whose life course is it, anyway? in R. Settersten (ed.), Invitation to the life course, Amityville, NY: Baywood.
Cairns, R. B., Elder, G. H., & Costello, E. J. (1996). Developmental science. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Choi, E. H., Kang, M. J., Lee, H. J., & Yun, M. S. (2021). A Latent Class Analysis of Health-Related Quality of Life in Korean Older Adults, International journal of environmental research and public health, 18, 15, 7874. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157874.
Cummins, R.A., Eckersley, R., Pallant, J., Jackie van Vugt, J., & Misajon, R. (2003). Developing a National Index of Subjective Wellbeing: The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, Social Indicators Research, 64, 159-190. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024704320683.
Crosnoe, R., & Elder, G. H., Jr. (2004). From Childhood to the Later Years: Pathways of Human Development, Research on Aging, 26, 6, 623-654.
Diener, E. (1995). A value-based index for measuring national quality of life, Social Indicators Research, 36, 107-127.
Elder, G. H., Jr. (1998). Life course and human development, in W. Damon (ed), Handbook of child psychology, New York: Wiley, 939-991.
Elder Jr., G. H., Kirkpatrick Johnson, M., & Crosnoe, R. (2002). The Emergence and Development of Life Course Theory, in J. T. Mortimer, & M. J. Shanahan (eds.), Handbook of the Life Course, New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 3-19.
Erikson, R. (1993). Descriptions of Inequality: The Swedish Approach to Welfare Research, in M. Nussbaum, & A. Sen (eds.), The Quality of Life, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Eurofound (2020). Living, working and COVID-19, COVID-19 series, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Eurostat (2017). Final report of the expert group on quality of life indicators, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Fahey, T., Nolan, B., & Whelan, C. (2003). Monitoring Living Conditions and Quality of Life in Europe, Luxemburg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Finfgeld-Connett, D. (2014). Use of content analysis to conduct knowledge-building and theory-generating qualitative systematic reviews, Qualitative Research, 14, 3, 341-352. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794113481790.
Grant, M.J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies, Health Information and Libraries Journal, 26, 2. 91-108 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x.
Hagerty, M. R., Cummins, R., Ferriss, A. L., Land, K., Michalos, A. C., Peterson, M., Sharpe, A., Sirgy, J., & Vogel, J. (2001). Quality of Life Indexes for National Policy: Review and Agenda for Research, Bulletin of Sociological Methodology/Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, 71,1, 58-78. https://doi.org/10.1177/075910630107100104.
Maggino, F., & Facioni, C. (2017). Measuring Stability and Change: Methodological Issues in Quality of Life studies, Social Indicators Research, 130, 161-187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-015-1129-9
Mărginean, I. (1991). Schiţă de indicatori ai calităţii vieţii, Calitatea Vieţii, 3-4, 3-24.
Mărginean, I. (2003). Cercetarea şi monitorizarea calităţii vieţii în ţările UE şi în ţările candidate, Calitatea Vieţii, 14, 3-4, 431-435.
Mărginean, I. (2005). Semnificaţia cercetărilor de calitatea vieţii, in I. Mărginean, & A. Bălaşa (eds.), Calitatea vieţii în România, Bucureşti: Editura Expert.
Mărginean, I., & Bălaşa, A. (eds.) ([2002], 2005). Calitatea Vieţii în România. Bucureşti: Editura Expert.
Mărginean, I., & Precupeţu, I. (eds.) (2008). Calitatea vieţii şi dezvoltarea durabilă. Politici de întărire a coeziunii sociale. Bucureşti: Editura Expert.
Mărginean, I., & Precupeţu, I. (eds.) (2011). Paradigma calității vieții. Bucureşti: Editura Academiei Române.
Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation, Psychological Review, 50, 4, 370-396.
Michalos, A.C., Smale, B., Labonté, R., Muharjarine, N., Scott, K., Moore, K., Swystun, L., Holden, B., Bernardin, H., Dunning, B., Graham, P., Guhn, M., Gadermann, A.M., Zumbo, B.D., Morgan, A., Brooker, A.-S., & Hyman, I. (2011). The Canadian Index of Wellbeing. Technical Report 1.0. Waterloo, ON: Canadian Index of Wellbeing and University of Waterloo.
Nardo, M., Saisana, M., Saltelli, A., Tarantola, S., Hoffman, A., & Giovannini, E. (2005). Handbook on constructing composite indicators: methodology and user guide, Paris: OECD Statistics Working Paper.
Noll, H.H. (2002). Towards a European System of Social Indicators: Theoretical Framework and System Architecture, Social Indicators Research book series, 47-87. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47513-8_4.
Noll, H.H. (2014). European System of Social Indicators, in A.C. Michalos (eds.), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_3448.
OECD (2008). Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators. Methodology and User Guide. https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/handbookonconstructingcompositeindicatorsmethodologyanduserguide.htm.
OECD (2020). How's Life? 2020: Measuring Well-being. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9870c393-en.
Saisana, M., & Tarantola, S. (2002). State-of-the-art report on current methodologies and practices for composite indicator development, EUR 20408 EN, Italy: European Commission-JRC. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/9253d939-b47b-4428-b792-619e6b6c8645.
Saltelli, A. (2007). Composite indicators between analysis and advocacy, Social Indicators Research, 81, 1, 65-77.
Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sirgy, M. J., Michalos, A. C., Ferriss, A. L., Easterlin, R. A., Patrick, D, & Pavot, W. (2006). The Quality-of-Life (QOL) Research Movement: Past, Present, and Future, Social Indicators Research, 76, 343-466.
Stiglitz, J. E., Sen, A., & Fitoussi, J. P. (2009). Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. http://www.stiglitz-sen-fitoussi.fr/documents/rapport_anglais.pdf.
The WHOQOL Group (1998b). Development of the World Health Organization WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment, Psychological Medicine, 28, 3, 551-558.
The WHOQOL Group (1998a). The World Health Organization quality of life assessment (WHOQOL): Development and general psychometric properties, Social Science and Medicine, 46, 12, 1569-1585.
Veenhoven, R. (1996). Happy life-expectancy. A comprehensive measure of quality-of-life in nations, Social Indicators research, 39, 1, 1-58.
Zamfir, C. (ed.) (1984). Indicatori și surse de variație a calității vieții. București: Editura Academiei RSR.
Zamfir, E. (1989). Incursiune în universul uman: noi ipostaze și dimensiuni ale fericirii. București: Albatros
Zamfir, E. (2018). Calitatea vieții în strategiile de dezvoltare, in E. Zamfir, & I. Precupețu (eds), Calitatea vieții, Un proiect pentru România, București: Editura Academiei Române, 7-17.
Weismayer, C. (2021). Applied Research in Quality of Life: A Computational Literature Review, Applied Research in Quality of Life. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-021-09969-9.
World Health Organization (2010). A Conceptual Framework for Action on the Social Determinants of Health. Discussion Paper. WHO Document Production Services, Geneva, Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.13016/17cr-aqb9.