Stabilising the construct of health related quality of life: 1970-2007

This paper describes the process by which the construct of health related quality of life was stabilised as an important goal of medicine. From its initial rhetorical use in the 1970s through periods of advocacy and methodological development the construct was finally stabilised through the appearance and application of formal quality of life instruments in medical research and clinical practice. Yet despite the centrality of quality of life measurement for modern medicine and its current operationalisation in over a thousand questionnaires, the underlying construct remains contested and can still be described as a ‘loose concept’.

Keywords: quality of life, medicine, loose concepts