Quality of Life in Old Age: International and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives (Social Indicators Research Series Book 31)

This book started its life during a symposium we organised on Quality of Life in Old Age at the Fifth Conference of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies (ISQOLS) in Frankfurt in July 2003. We are extremely grateful to Alex Michalos for sponsoring that session, encouraging us to use the symposium presentations as the basis for a book and for his support during the commissioning and editing process. We are also very grateful to the authors of this volume for the prompt delivery of their manuscripts and responses to our editorial comments. Finally our special thanks to Marg Walker for her expert and efficient preparation of the manuscript for publication. Heidrun Mollenkopf Alan Walker Heidelberg Sheffield ix SECTION I UNDERSTANDING QUALITY OF LIFE IN OLD AGE ALAN WALKER AND HEIDRUN MOLLENKOPF 1. INTERNATIONAL AND MULTIDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES ON QUALITY OF LIFE IN OLD AGE Conceptual issues Quality of life (QoL) is a multidimensional, holistic construct assessed from many different perspectives and by many disciplines. Moreover, the concept of QoL can be applied to practically all important domains of life. Thus, QoL research has to include social, environmental, structural, and health-related aspects, and be approached from an interdisciplinary perspective. This holds even more when QoL in old age is the focus because ageing itself is a multidimensional process. 1402056818......Page 1 Table of Contents......Page 7 Preface......Page 9 Section I – Understanding Quality of Life in Old Age......Page 10 1. International and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives on Quality of Life in Old Age: Conceptual Issues......Page 11 2. Quality of Life in Older Age: What Older People Say......Page 22 Section II – Key Aspects of Quality of Life......Page 38 3. Well-being, Control and Ageing: An Empirical Assessment......Page 39 4. Social Resources......Page 54 5. Economic Resources and Subjective Well-Being in Old Age......Page 70 6. Quality of Life in Old Age, Inequality and Welfare State Reform: A Comparison Between Norway, Germany, and England......Page 90 7. Environmental Aspects of Quality of Life in Old Age: Conceptual and Empirical Issues......Page 106 8. The Environments of Ageing in the Context of the Global Quality of Life among Older People Living in Family Housing......Page 128 9. Perceived Environmental Stress, Depression, and Quality of Life in Older, Low-Income, Minority Urban Adults......Page 156 10. Ageing and Quality of Life in Asia and Europe: A Comparative Sociological Appraisal......Page 171 11. Ethnicity and Quality of Life......Page 182 12. Health and Quality of Life......Page 198 13. Care-related Quality of Life: Conceptual and Empirical Exploration......Page 217 Section III – Conclusions and Outlook......Page 235 14. Quality of Life in Old Age: Synthesis and Future Perspectives......Page 236 List of Contributors......Page 250 E......Page 253 I......Page 254 N......Page 255 S......Page 256 W......Page 257 This volume brings together leading researchers on quality of life in old age to focus on one of the most important issues in both gerontology and quality of life studies. There are very few texts available on this topic and none of an international and multi-disciplinary nature. For these reasons and the high quality of the authors we have assembled, this will be a seminal text for both gerontology and quality of life researchers.