Quality of life in childhood and adolescence: from concept to practice.

Quality of life (QOL) is an extensive and broad ranging concept with the important position in the studies of psychology, economy, and medicine. QOL is an interdisciplinary conceptresulting from numerous social, economical, health and environmental factors that cumulatively and, often in unknown ways, can interact to affect both human and social development at the level of the individual or society . However, this definition of QOL provides only the framework for genesis and participants, but does not describe the core of concept. The essence is determined to refer to the primary focus for forming the QOL conceptual models: a) economical with „not how much, but how good; not with the quantity of goods, but with the quality of lives“; b) sociological with „social utility and preference“ and c) psychological with „happiness and satisfaction“ . Refer to health related QOL concept, the World Health Organization defined the QOL in 1991 as “the individual perception of his or her position in life, within the cultural context and value system he or she lives in, and relation to his or her goals, expectations, parameters and social relations. It is a broad ranging concept affected in a complex way by the person’s physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships and their relationship to salient features of their environment”. The subjective nature of QOL (“the individual perception” is crucial for understanding this concept) 3, . QOL is open, self–esteem concept. At the same time, the subjective nature of QOL causes various difficulties in QOL assessment and evaluation. Health-related QOL concepts summarize those aspects of life quality or function which are impacted by one’s health status (i.e. the impact of a person’s health on his/her ability to lead full life, and “well-being” with or after the treatment) . The QOL concept is much broader and encompasses both medical and non medical aspects. The QOL concept is complex, multidimensional construct and actually is the holistic approach to a person.