Centre for Policy on Ageing
 

 

Lay theories of quality of life in older age
Author(s)Ann Bowling, Zahava Gabriel
Journal titleAgeing and Society, vol 27, part 6, November 2007
Pagespp 827-848
Sourcehttp://www.journals.cambridge.org/jid_ASO
KeywordsQuality of life ; Well being ; Health [elderly] ; Theory.
AnnotationThis paper presents findings from a national survey of quality of life (QoL) in older age. The main aim of the analyses was to examine the definitions of quality of life given by people aged 65 or more years and the underlying reasons. Open-ended questions were used to elicit their perceptions of QoL. These were followed by structured measures of self-rated QoL overall, and of domains of QoL commonly reported in the literature. The main things said by the respondents to give their lives quality were categorised into 'themes'. The reasons given by people to explain why these things were important to QoL are also focused on. This paper also presents data that demonstrates the ability of theoretically informed, structured survey indicators of QoL to predict respondents' self-rated overall QoL. Logistic regression analyses showed that most of these indicators were strong, independent predictors of self-ratings of QoL, although those that were not significant in the model did not fully incorporate lay reasons of QoL in their measurement scales. In conclusion, the indicators which were not significant in the model did not fully incorporate lay values in their measurement properties. It is also likely that those indicators that were significant could have been improved. (KJ).
Accession NumberCPA-071115203 A
ClassmarkF:59: D:F:5HH: CC: 4D

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