Prerequisites for the development of a tool to assess the quality of life in the elderly
José Antonio Iglesias Guerra, Carmen Bárcena Calvo, Mª. José Del Valle Antolín, Víctor Abella, Isabel Galán Andrés

SUMMARY

  Interest in quality of life has existed since time immemorial, however, the emergence of the concept as such, and concern for the systematic and scientific evaluation of it is relatively recent. The idea, which begins to become popular in the 60s, has now become a concept used in very diverse areas such as health, education, economics, politics and the world of services in general. But in the twenty-first century, there remains a lack of consensus on the definition of the concept. The quality of life has an objective and a subjective dimension. The latter is closely linked to life satisfaction experienced by the elderly both from a synchronic point of view as diachronic, and is considered multidimensional, complex and situational. The main difficulties for the construction of instruments to assess quality of life of older people from the street presents conceptual, methodological and instrumental. However, the term quality of life interventions should soak these age groups, so we offer some recommendations for its development.

KEY WORDS

   Elderly, quality of life, successful aging, valuation.

Vol. 21 nº2-2010