title: Patient, family, nurse perspectives on Chinese elders' quality of life.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Families and nurses are important care-providers and proxies of older people. Their ability to assess the quality of life of elders in ways that align with how older people assess themselves has policy implications for allocating services and resources to older persons.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the alignment of perspectives of the quality of life held by older people, their families and nurses in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Employing a survey design using concurrent EQ-5D-3L and WHOQOL-BREF surveys, responses from 72 matched stakeholder groups were compared and agreement tested using weighted kappa/one-way random intra-class correlations and paired Student's t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On the more observable dimensions families and nurses were in close agreement with the older person in relation to quality of life reports. However, in the more subjective domains, family and especially nurses tended to estimate that the older person's suffering as more severe than they themselves thought.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The perspectives of older patients and their family are more closely aligned regarding the older person's quality of life than that of nurses caring for them, a finding inconsistent with international research.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The evidence suggests that nursing work assignment processes could influence the accuracy of nurses' perceptions of their patient's quality of life.
authors.affiliation: HOPE School of Nursing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: HOPE School of Nursing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.|School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McDonald
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002681:China; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: China; Families; Gerontological Nursing; Nurses; Older Adults; Proxy Raters; Quality of life