Patients’ understanding of the concepts of health and quality of life

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to identify how persons’ with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) understand the concepts of health and quality of life (QoL).MethodsA phenomenograpic approach was used to gauge variations in understanding of health and QoL. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 22 persons having RA. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed, resulting in a descriptive system consisting of categories and subcategories.ResultsHealth was primarily associated with being healthy/being free from disease, being able to function normally, experiencing well-being, and having a healthy lifestyle. Two above-mentioned domains, “being healthy” and “being able to function normally” overlapped with respondents’ understanding of QoL. Additional perceived domains included attitudes towards life and, social and physical environments.ConclusionThe results show that patients’ understanding of the two concepts of health and QoL partially overlap and partially differ.Practice implicationsPatients’ understanding of the concepts is individual and diverse, which needs to be taken into account in patient–physician consultations to ensure good communication. Furthermore, the interpretation of results based on patient-reported outcomes instruments measuring health status and/or QoL needs to be further studied over time to identify possible changes in these conceptions.