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What does quality of life mean to older frail and non-frail community-dwelling adults in the Netherlands?

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Abstract

Quality of life is a commonly used but seldom defined concept and there is no consensus on how to define it. The aim of this study was to explore the meaning of quality of life to older frail and non-frail persons living in the community. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 25 older men and women. The audio-taped interviews were transcribed and coded for content and analyzed using the grounded-theory approach. Five themes emerged: (physical) health, psychological well-being, social contacts, activities, and home and neighborhood. Factors that influenced quality of life were having good medical care, finances and a car. Respondents compared themselves mostly to others whose situation was worse than their own, which resulted in a satisfactory perceived quality of life. However, the priorities of the domains of quality of life were observed to change. Moreover, the health of the frail limited the amount and scope of activities that they performed. This led to a lower quality of life perceived by the frail compared to the non-frail.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LASA, Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine (EMGO Institute), VU University Medical Center, Van der Boechorststraat 7, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    M. T. E. Puts, N. Shekary & D. J. H. Deeg

  2. Health Sciences, Department of Health Care Studies, section of Healthcare Ethics and Philosophy, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    G. Widdershoven

  3. Department of Research Methodology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    J. Heldens

  4. Department of Endocrinology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    P. Lips

Authors
  1. M. T. E. Puts
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  2. N. Shekary
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  3. G. Widdershoven
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  4. J. Heldens
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  5. P. Lips
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  6. D. J. H. Deeg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to D. J. H. Deeg.

Appendices

Appendix 1. Interview guide quality of life for frail and non-frail older community-dwelling adults

Introduction

Since 1992/1993, you have participated in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. You have been visited several times during the past twelve years and been asked to fill in questionnaires and perform several tests. This study is different than that you used to. In this study, the topic is your experience of aging. In contrast to what you are used to of LASA, in this interview you can mention everything that you feel is important about quality of life. Before we start, I would like to tell you that if you want to stop this interview for whatever reason, we stop. The interview will be audio taped and I will make notes during the interview. Everything you say will be anonymous. Do you have any questions left before we start?

So, I mentioned that the topic of this study is your experience of aging and more in particular quality of life.

(1) Important themes related to quality of life at this moment

  • First I would like to know what quality of life means to you, what is the first thing that you think about when you hear the term quality of life? (With the help of mind maps)

  • What else is quality of life? Can you tell me why you feel that is important?

  • If somebody has quality of life, what does he or she have?

  • What is not quality of life? Could you tell me why it is not?

  • Imagine that you are a health care provider and you are responsible for providing quality of life for older community-dwelling persons, what would you do?

  • What is important for your own quality of life? Can you explain why it is important?

(2) Selection of most important theme for quality of life

Now you see in front of you on the paper all the aspects you feel are important for quality of life. Can you tell me of all the things mentioned on the paper, which one is the most important for quality of life?

  • Can you describe why this... is most important?

(3) Appraisal of own quality of life

Now that we talked about aspects that are important for quality of life, I would like to know how you value your own quality of life. Could you give a valuation of your own quality of life at this moment?

  • Can you tell me why you chose this valuation? What is the reason that you chose... instead of (depending on the valuation good/satisfactory/unsatisfactory)?

  • What is missing/what is not okay that you do not find your own quality of life satisfactory/good (if the valuation is unsatisfactory or satisfactory)?

(4) Conditions for maintaining good quality of life when aging

  • Can you tell me what you feel are important conditions for quality of life?

  • What should be present to be able to have a good quality of life for older persons?

  • What takes quality of life away for older persons?

  • Have these conditions for maintaining a good quality of life changed with aging?

  • Can you describe what has changed and how it has changed?

  • What can an older person do to maintain a good quality of life?

  • What can other persons contribute to the conditions for a good quality of life?

Then we have reached the end of the interview. Are there aspects of quality of life important to you that we have not discussed today? Are there any questions that I did not ask you but you feel are important for this topic to ask? If something comes up later today or this week that you feel is important for this study, I would really appreciate it if you would call me. Thank you very much for your time and participation in this study.

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Puts, M.T.E., Shekary, N., Widdershoven, G. et al. What does quality of life mean to older frail and non-frail community-dwelling adults in the Netherlands?. Qual Life Res 16, 263–277 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-006-9121-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-006-9121-0

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