Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an individual’s or a group’s perceived physical and mental health over time, according to the CDC. It encompasses prevention, treatment, and aspects of a person’s life that affect physical or mental health.
Deeper dive
HRQoL may include health risks and conditions, functional status, social support and socioeconomic status of individuals. It can be difficult to pinpoint more specifically, since the meaning of “quality of life” varies so broadly among individuals.
In communities, HRQOL encompasses resources, conditions, policies and practices that influence a population’s health status and perceptions. This helps to determine the burden of preventable disease, injuries, and disabilities, which guide local, state and national policy interventions, programs and health objectives.
Adding HRQOL indicators in community health assessment studies offers health agencies outcomes that are meaningful to the broad community, identifies population disparities in HRQOL, and helps to prioritize subgroups with unmet needs to improve community quality of life. The construct of HRQOL enables health agencies to legitimately address broader areas of healthy public policy around a common theme in collaboration with a wider circle of health partners, including social service agencies, community planners, and business groups. The Healthy Days assessment – a form which asks about your health status and any functional or daily activity limitations, provides data for some indicators. Information from this and other evaluations are aggregated into city, state and federal databases to determine and track personal and population health status, issues and trends. Other analyses of HRQOL include patient-reported outcomes, well-being assessments and participation measures.