Good quality of life (QoL) encompasses more than just good
health. At a basic level, it can represent the sum of a person’s
physical, emotional, social, occupational and spiritual well-
being, the study of which is complicated by the fact that there
is no consensus as to what constitutes QoL. The World Health
Organization has described QoL as "individuals’ perception of
their position in life in the context of the culture and value
systems in which they live and in relation to their goals,
expectations, standards and concerns" (1). This broad, generic
conceptualization of QoL can be distinguished from the more
specific concept of ‘health-related quality of life’ (HRQOL),
which refers to those aspects of an individual’s life that
impact directly upon their health (2) and the more economically-
derived ‘cost-utility’ models of QoL. This area of research is
further complicated by the understanding that QoL can be highly
subjective, potentially fluid and open to distortion, making it
challenging to measure reliably