title: Let's ask them: a national survey of definitions of quality of life and its enhancement among people aged 65 and over.
abstract: This study aimed to explore older peoples' definitions of, and priorities for, a good quality of life for themselves and their peers. Nine hundred and ninety-nine people aged 65 and over, living at home in Britain, were interviewed for the study. Good social relationships were the most commonly mentioned constituent that gave respondents' lives quality (mentioned by 81 percent). Other important factors were social roles and activities, health, psychological outlook and well-being, home and neighborhood, finances, and independence. Poor health was most often mentioned as taking quality away from life (by 50 percent). Social relationships and health were judged to be the most important areas. Having health and enough money were the two most frequently mentioned things that would improve the quality of their own lives and those of their peers (though in different order of magnitude). The need for dynamic, multidimensional, and integrated models of quality of life in older age is suggested by these results.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Primary Care and Population Sciences, University College London. abowling@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bowling
authors.forename: Zahava
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gabriel
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dykes
authors.forename: Lee Marriott
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Dowding
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fleissig
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Banister
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sutton
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D006113:United Kingdom