engleski

Some components of quality of life in palliative care

Quality of life is a acomplex concept and is of interest to many scientists of the various profiles. During the last decade, the World Health Organization (WHO), has introduced the concept of quality of life when defining the health as a "state of physical, mestal and social wellbeing and not only of the absence of illnesses or insecurities." despite the development of the concept of quality of life, there is still no consensus on its definition. In the terms of the needs of patients in the palliative care, the Haas model of the quality of life seems to be most acceptable. It includes the following dimensions: physical, psychological, social and spiritual. In this model, the quality of life is based on the values, and it is multidimensional and dynamics. The primary indicator of the quality of life, the component of wellbeing, is subjective, and it affects its other foru dimensions. Satisfaction with life is the second most important indicator and it influences the meaning of blessing. We can say that the quality of life is ever-present and it encompasses the evolution of the individual's present conditions of life. The aim of palliative care is to ensure the best possible quality of life to those who are ill until their end, i.e. their death. The quality of life varies during the illness, and the critical moments can be described in four phases: diagnosis, completion of the first treatment, reoccurrence and the transition from an active treatment to the palliative care, i.e. easing of pain. We know very little of this last phase. As the illness progresses, the quality of life changes. Those changes influence the quality of life (high and low moments), both of a patient and his/her family members. There is little research on how family members accept illness of their dearest (closest) ones and its progression through various phases, or how they assess the quality of patient's life. Thus, the aim of this paper is to present some components of the quality of life and to provide guidelines for better careof terminally ill patients and their family members.

quality of life; model; terminally ill; palliative care

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