The Role of the Person's Self - Concept in Quality of Life Research
The Role of the Person's Self - Concept in Quality of Life Research

Summary/Abstract: The author of this paper considers the concept of health-related Quality of life (QOL) by paying special attention to the relevance of taking into account of one’s own personal self-concept. An attempt was made to indicate to the importance of the unique way in which a person (patient) summarizes his own self-concept, i.e. the way he perceives and experiences him self in the context of the relationships with others and world in general. That is why the author suggest that in the careful QOL research it is essentially not possible to ignore or even to exclude a person’s own subjective and unrepeatable values, feelings, experiences, attitudes, beliefs, and conceptions about himself as well about the various elements and/or sides of life, that differentiate particular person from all others. Some more general issues about QOL assessment are also included. The suggestion was made that the suitable QOL measurement has to include an idiographic and subjective approach - but only as an important complement to more nomothetic and objective one. It is argued that both approaches and measures should be used in QOL research, and that the quality of our dealing with this field of research can be increased in this way.

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