Handbook on Quality of Life for Human Service Practitioners

9780940898776

0940898772

Understanding and applying the concept of quality of life (QOL) has become critically important for human services practitioners, including policymakers, researchers, and consumers. Why? The QOL concept affects program development and service delivery in special education, health care, social services, and families. Further, quality of life is being used as a criterion for assessing the effectiveness of services to in the four areas listed above. Providers want to deliver quality products to consumers, consumers want a life of quality, and evaluators want quality outcomes. The aim of the Handbook on Quality of Life is simple: to provide a clear understanding of the concept of quality of life and then outline a model to guide best practices in QOL assessment, application, and evaluation. The authors--disability experts from the U.S. and Spain--review every source on the concept, measurement, and application of quality of life in education, physical health, mental and behavioral health, mental retardation and intellectual disabilities, and aging to lay out a concept of QOL that is both the culturally sensitive and universal in its appeal.