Quality of life: Expanding the scope of clinical significance

Clinical researchers have turned their attention to quality of life assessm ent as a means of broadening the evaluation of treatment outcomes. This art icle Examines conceptual and methodological issues related to the use of qu ality of life measures in mental health. These include the lack of a good o perational definition of the construct, the use of subjective versus object ive quality of life indicators, and die nature of the relationship between symptoms and quality of life judgments. Of special concern is the ability o f quality of life measures to detect treatment-related changes. The authors review the application of quality of life assessment across diverse patien t groups and therapies and provide recommendations for developing comprehen sive, psychometrically sophisticated quality of life measures.