吳淑貞  彭少貞^*  徐少慧^**

慈濟技術學院護理系助理教授

慈濟技術學院護理系副教授^*

慈濟技術學院護理系講師^**

摘  要

本篇文章旨在從歷史脈絡中了解生活品質一詞之意涵，並探討其在健康照護領域相關研究中之定義及工具與測量等議題。從文獻中得知生活品質一詞在二次世界大戰後開始出現在西方國家社會中；其目的為社會研究中對物質生活的探討。之後由於1960年代時，西方國家的政治及社會起了劇變，生活品質一詞之意涵由原本所指的客觀物質指標轉變為主觀個體的生命經驗；而此語彙於1970年代開始出現在健康照護領域中，至今與生活品質相關的健康照護研究已經是一個吸引眾多焦點且大量出現的研究主題。然而生活品質是個複雜、抽象且多元的概念，定義與測量生活品質在研究中有許多困難。因此，本篇文獻對其定義與相關測量問題作一回顧。

關鍵詞：生活品質、生活品質意涵

Quality of Life: Its Origin, Shifting and Issues in the Health Care Context

Shu-Chen Wu  Shao-Jen Perng  Shao-Hui Shu

Department of Nursing, Tzu Chi College of Technology

Abstract

Questions about what a good life is and how we should live in order to live a good life have been discussed by philosophers for hundreds of years. The term ‘quality of life’ QOL, however, is of a more recent origin. This paper seeks to understand the term QOL in its historical context, and explore its definition problems, and the instruments, approaches and measures within the health care context. By reviewing the literature, it was found that the term QOL began to appear in western societies shortly after the Second World War for the purpose of social research with reference to material goods. Due to the major political and social upheaval that began in the late 1960s, the emphasis of QOL shifted from objective materialistic goods to an individual subjective life experience. This term entered the health care context in the 1970s, and is an area of health care study that has attracted an ever increasing amount of interest over the past few decades. However, QOL is a complex, abstract, and multidimensional concept that is difficult to define and measure. Therefore, its definition and measurement issues within the health care context are explored and discussed in the present paper.

Keywords: Quality of life, quality of life measurement

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