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Welcome to the Health-Related Quality of Life Rendezvous, your one stop blog for discussing the importance of all issues health-related quality of life and well-being related!

What is health-related quality of life? 

            Health-related quality of life and well-being is a multi-dimensional concept that includes physical, mental, social, and emotional aspects all in the pursuit of positively impacting one’s health status and what influences it has on one’s quality of life.¹Well-being is usually a concept related to high-related quality of life, as well-being assesses positive aspects of one’s life, such as positive emotions and positive attitudes, which are relative, but are deemed necessary if one is wishing to live a full and productive life.¹A concept since 1949, the World Health Organization (WHO) realized that health was more than just simply the absence of disease, and by 2005, the organization recognized the importance of improving one’s quality of life in writing, because after all, with people living generally longer than ever before, health should probably be seen in more ways than simply looking at how to prevent someone from dying or general suffering.¹In Healthy People 2020’s case, health-related quality of life and well-being can be “measured” through self-rated physical and mental health, overall well-being, and how much one participates in society, and while admittedly none of these alone can truly exemplify all there is to health-related quality of life and well-being, they together can paint a far more accurate and comprehensive picture of the health-related quality of life and well-being of a population.¹

“Health-related quality of life and well-being is a multi-dimensional concept that includes physical, mental, social, and emotional aspects all in the pursuit of positively impacting one’s health status and what influences it has on one’s quality of life.”

What makes health-related quality of life and well-being issues important?

One of the aspects of health-related quality of life and well-being that makes it particularly important is how it stresses the impact of or adds to the issues behind contracting a certain disease or sickness.  For example, haemophilia, a medical condition that is characterized with being a bleeding disorder and is associated with symptoms such as spontaneous bruising, mucosal bleeding, joint bleeding, epistaxis (bleeding from the nose), and severe and fatal bleeding events such as intracranial hemorrhages, is an obvious example of how one’s health-related quality of life and well-being will be affected, whether it be due to the disorder itself or the implementation of its treatment.² While there has been many past assessments on the quality of life for haemophilia patients, data on certain and specific demographics, such as childhood haemophilia, remains rare, something that should most definitely be remedied, as aspects of quality of life, such as financial burdens and the type of treatment being used and how it affects and disturbs the life of the patient, are subjects that could and should be considered immediately so that they can be taken into consideration in the nearest of futures.²

“Aspects of quality of life, such as financial burdens and the type of treatment being used and how it affects and disturbs the life of the patient, are subjects that could and should be considered immediately so that they can be taken into consideration in the nearest of futures.”

What are the goals behind this blog?

            Here at the HRQLR, we aim to look into the issues concerning the quality of life behind health issues besides simply preventing, curing, or ridding patients of said issues.  After all, health-related issues can be quite the obstacle and nuisance when one is trying to live their life and a little help can certainly come a long way in keeping the patient well taken care of until they are cured, and hopefully, by then, they will not be overtaken by the problems their health issues have unintentionally caused for them.  This blog aims to convince readers of the importance of such issues and to encourage them to provide help as much as they possibly can to their fellow man in their time of need (though adults or those who are capable of volunteering or paying to help are the focus of this blog).  To do that, each post will focus on the health-related quality of life issues surrounding one health-related disease or disorder, and home in on what aspects within the lives of those afflicted by such diseases can be bettered.  This blog will partner with the World Health Organization, as their mission is to, “promote health, keep the world safe, and serve the vulnerable”³ and they already have a plethora of programs, partnerships, and projects dedicated towards various health issues worldwide,⁴ making it easy to contribute to any cause one might wish to offer their aid with.

“This blog aims to convince readers of the importance of such issues (health- related quality of life and well-being issues) and to encourage them to provide help as much as they possibly can to their fellow man in their time of need.”

Contact  Information:

Email: hrqlr@gmail.com

References:

1. Health-related quality of life and well-being.  Healthy People 2020 website.  https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/health-related-quality-of-life-well-being.  Accessed March 19, 2019. 
2. Zhang H, Huang J, Kong X, Ma G, Fang Y. Health-related quality of life in children with haemophilia in China: a 4-year follow-up prospective cohort study. Health And Quality Of Life Outcomes. 2019;17(1):28. doi:10.1186/s12955-019-1083-3.
3. What we do.  World Health Organization website.  https://www.who.int/about/what-we-do.  Accessed March 24, 2019.
4. Programs and projects.  World Health Organization website.  https://www.who.int/entity/en/.  Accessed March 24, 2019.