The choices, choosing model of quality of life: description and rationale.
OBJECTIVE
This introductory paper offers a critical review of current models and measures of quality of life, and describes a choices and choosing (c-c) process as a new model of quality of life.


METHODS
Criteria are proposed for judging the relative merits of models of quality of life with preference being given to explicit mechanisms, linkages to a science base, a means of identifying deficits amenable to rational restorative interventions, and with embedded values of the whole person.


RESULTS
A conjectured model, based on the processes of gaining access to choices and choosing among them, matches the proposed criteria. The c-c process is an evolved adaptive mechanism dedicated to the pursuit of quality of life, driven by specific biological and psychological systems, and influenced by social and environmental forces.


CONCLUSIONS
This model strengthens the science base for the field of quality of life, unifies approaches to concept and measurement, and guides the evaluation of impairments of quality of life. Corresponding interventions can be aimed at relieving restrictions or distortions of the c-c process; thus helping people to preserve and improve their quality of life. RELATED WORK: Companion papers detail relevant aspects of the science base, present methods of identifying deficits and distortions of the c-c model so as to open opportunities for rational restorative interventions, and explore empirical analyses of the relationship between health imposed restrictions of c-c and conventional indicators of diminished quality of life. [corrected]
Columbia University Stroud Center for Study of Quality of Life, 100 Haven Ave, T3-30F, New York, NY 10032, USA. bjgl@columbia.edu
Barry J
BJ
Gurland
Roni V
RV
Gurland
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005852:Geriatric Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011788:Quality of Life