Conceptual approaches to the assessment of quality of life

This paper provides an overview of the two main conceptual approaches to quality of life assessment; the standard needs approach where quality of life is seen as the extent to which certain universal needs are met and the psychological processes approach where quality of life is considered to be constructed from individual evaluations of personally salient aspects of life. The domains to be considered, their relative values and the criteria used to judge life quality are outlined for a number of assessment approaches. Psychological processes which can influence quality of life evaluations are described along with recommendations for their systematic evaluation in future study designs.