Health-Related Quality of Life Discussion Board

Health-Related Quality of Life Discussion Board

Ferran’s et al.’s Conceptual Model of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL)

This is a framework that helps to understand an individual’s health and the impact of health on the quality of life led by the individual. The model links several dimensions of health and well-being by acknowledging that HRQoL is influenced by the intricate interaction of psychological, social, physical, and environmental factors. These include physical factors (such as activity tolerance and symptoms, such as pain), psychological factors (like emotional well-being and cognitive functioning), social factors (like social support and interpersonal relationships), environmental factors (like living conditions, work environment, recreational and leisure activities), personal beliefs and spirituality, and disease and treatment factors (Duangchan & Matthews, 2021). These factors relate to one another, and any disequilibrium will impact health and hence influence the general quality of life.

To evaluate the quality of life for individuals, objective and subjective data sets are used in various ways, such as self-reports and clinical assessments. Additional tools are used to assess other dimensions of the model. The SF-36 and WHOQOL-BREF are the common tools used to assess these dimensions (Duangchan & Matthews, 2021).  The HRQoL model is beneficial to various settings like clinical practice, research departments, and public health departments, as it guides vital activities such as policy formulation, development of effective interventions, and evaluation of health outcomes. Furthermore, integrating these models in care delivery helps healthcare providers structure holistic and patient-centered care due to the comprehensive understanding of the patient’s needs beyond the clinical symptoms. This consequently improves the overall quality of life.

Factors Influencing Health Outcomes

Both individual and environmental characteristics have vital roles in influencing health outcomes, including biological functions, symptoms, functional status, general health perceptions, and overall quality of life. The individual characteristics include genetics, age, gender, lifestyle and behaviors, and psychological factors. All these factors affect the aspects of health in different ways, which wholesomely influences the overall quality of life (Verges et al., 2022).

To begin with, genetic factors, where genetics can determine an individual’s susceptibility to diseases, influence the severity of the symptoms, and affect physical and cognitive abilities. Aging is the second individual factor influencing health outcomes through changes in bodily functioning, age-related conditions, decline in physical and cognitive activities, and increased health issues, which may bring a negative perception regarding their health. Thirdly, gender influences the health of an individual due to differences in biological functions such as hormonal balances, where some symptoms are gender-specific, and gender roles and physical differences affect health behaviors. Fourthly, lifestyle and behaviors such as diet, smoking, and exercise affect the health outcomes of an individual, while else others mitigate or exacerbate symptoms. Lastly, psychological factors (stress and mental health) affect biological functions, symptoms, functional status, and health perceptions and affect the overall quality of life (Verges et al., 2022).

Environmental factors also play vital roles in influencing the health outcomes of individuals. Physical, social, economic, and cultural environments influence the overall health of an individual. The interaction of these factors greatly affects biological function, symptoms, functional status, general health perceptions, and overall quality of life (Verges et al., 2022). How these factors influence the health of individuals is evident in the movie “The Bucket List” as demonstrated through characters such as Edward Cole and Carter Chambers.

The Bucket List

This is a film about the story of Edward Perriman Cole, who died on a Sunday afternoon. He was in a meeting with the board members when he coughed out blood, and this necessitated his admission to one of the hospitals he ran. During his admission, Edward Cole did not agree to the fact that his medical condition has affected his functioning to the extent of requiring assistance. For example, he declines to be moved to his hospital bed by the healthcare provider. His social support environment is unfriendly, unlike that of Carter Chambers. For example, he states that he believes many people die out of visitors and not diseases. At first, Edward demands a room on his own, but later on, he starts catching up well with Carter, and they exchange their life stories. Edward and Carter develop a strong friendship bond and start enjoying life together. They do recreational and leisure activities together, such as skydiving and adventure all over the world during their last few months of life.. The companionship of the two makes them develop a positive sense of life and eventually accept that people live and die. Their emotional, psychological, social, and physical health improves, and their quality of life is ultimately better until their demise.

The title “bucket list” emanates from a list of the things Edward Cole would have wished to achieve before his demise.

References

Duangchan, C., & Matthews, A. K. (2021). Application of Ferrans et al.’s conceptual model of health‐related quality of life: A systematic review. Research in Nursing & Health. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.22120

Verges, J., Martínez, N., Pascual, A., Bibas, M., Santiña, M., & Rodas, G. (2022). Psychosocial and individual factors affecting Quality of Life (QoL) in patients suffering from Achilles tendinopathy: A systematic review. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-022-06090-2

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For this discussion assignment, we want each of you to take a night off and enjoy a movie. Your job is to select one of the films listed (a separate document) and to relate the basic concepts of Ferrans et al.’s (2005) middle-range nursing theory of health-related quality of life to the movie.

Health-Related Quality of Life Discussion Board

Ferrans and colleagues devised a model of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) published in 1995 by Wilson and Cleary. Ferrans’ work expanded the conceptualization of the domains in the original model and integrated it with the work of other

theorists. They redefined the original model by more clearly differentiating the individual factors from environmental factors, deleting non-medical factors, and directional labels.