Quality of Life Assessment

Part 1 Philosophies, concepts and key instruments involved in assessing quality of life: the new era of quality of life assessment; assessing health-related quality of life for clinical decision making; the quality of well-being scale - rationale for a single quality of life index; development, testing and use of the sickness impact profile; the Nottingham health profile; the McMaster health index auestionaire - an update; a health index and output measure; the index of health-related QOL (IHQL) - a new tool for audit and cost-per-QALY analysis; 15D measure of health-related quality of life and its applications; the Euroqol quality of life project; a WHO method for the assessment of health-related quality of life (WHOQOL); indices versus profiles - advantages and disadvantages; the on-line guide to quality of life assessment (OGLA) - a resource for selectiong quality of life assessments. Part 2 Assessing quality of life in major disease areas: measuring the quality of life - patients with caner, patients with rheumatoid arthritis, patients with Parkinson's diseasse, patients with respiratory disease, patients with hypertension, patients with angina; measuring the quality of life in psychiatry; measuring the quality of life in dermatology. Part 3 Viewpoints and perspectives: ethical questions and policy decisions - their implications for quality of life studies; industry perspectives on quality of life; a regulatory view; the cost effectiveness of pharmaceuticals; requirements for health care purchasers; the importance of quality of life in policy decisions.