The Concept of Quality of Life: Lessons Learned from the Field of Disability

Interrelated factors have changed societal views on persons with disabilities over the last decades. In this chapter, we reflect on a common understanding of those factors from a quality of life perspective. Its argued that elements of the quality of life construct as developed in the field of disability offer relevant frames of references for inspiring and integrating some of these models in the field of chronic disorders. In a first section, we describe the paradigm shift related to the development of the quality of life construct in the field of disabilities. Secondly, we elaborate on a social ecological perspective, supports thinking, and quality of life as interrelated factors impacting societal and scientific views on persons with disabilities. In a third section, we describe the quality of life framework from a measurement perspective, together with a value-driven approach. Finally, we discuss multiple uses of the construct of quality of life from an integrated and logic modelling point of view.