Measuring quality of life: Are quality of life measures patient centred?

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Abstract
The individual nature of quality of life Although there is no single agreed definition of health related quality of life, it is usually regarded as existing relative to individual or cultural expectations and goals (box). The first paper in this series proposed a model of quality of life that accounted for the interaction between expectations and experience.1 While it seems reasonable to assume that there are some aspects of life that are of universal relevance to quality of life, the specific weights that individuals attach to these will differ between and in different cultures. Other aspects may be important only to the individual. For example, the first paper in this series considered how the variations in expectations of health that exist between groups and individuals will have an impact on measuring quality of life. The interactions between all these aspects (generic and individual) will also vary between individuals.2 Moreover, these factors and their inter-relationships are unlikely to remain static over time.3 Values and priorities change in response to life circumstances, such as a life threatening illness, and experience, such as ageing or adapting to a chronic illness. Viewed in this way, both the determinants and evaluations of quality of life are highly specific to an individual.