scholarly journals Holistic Medicine: Scientific Challenges

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1108-1116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soren Ventegodt ◽  
Niels Jorgen Andersen ◽  
Joav Merrick
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Holistic Medicine ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Self Healing ◽  
Important Research ◽  
Quality Of Life Research ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
New Vision ◽  
Research Challenge

The field of holistic medicine is in need of a scientific approach. We need holistic medicine — and we even need it to be spiritual to include the depths of human existence — but we need it to be a little less “cosmic” in order to encompass the whole human being. Many important research questions and challenges, empirical as well as theoretical, demand the attention from medical researchers. Like a number of other practitioners and researchers, our group at the Quality of Life Research Center in Denmark together with groups in Norway and Israel are trying to tackle the research challenge by using conceptual frameworks of quality of life. We have suggested that quality of life represents a third influence on health beyond the genetic and traumatic factors so far emphasized by mainstream medicine. In our clinical and research efforts, we attempt to specify what a clinician may do to help patients help themselves, by mobilizing the vast resources hidden in their subjective worlds and existence, in their hopes and dreams, and their will to live. The field of holistic medicine must be upgraded to fully integrate human consciousness, scientifically as well as philosophically. We therefore present a number of important research questions for a consciousness-based holistic medicine. New directions in healthcare are called for and we need a new vision of the future of the healthcare sector in the industrialized countries. Every person seems to have immense potentials for self-healing that we scarcely know how to mobilize. A new holistic medicine must find ways to tackle this key challenge. A healthcare system that could do that successfully would bring quality of life, health, and new ability of functioning to many people.

scholarly journals Quality of Life Research in Saskatoon, Canada: Fifteen years of co-creating knowledge and action in the community

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bill Holden ◽  
Nazeem Muhajarine
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Improve Quality ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Quality Of Life Research ◽  
Qualitative Understanding ◽  
Community Outcomes ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Evaluation And Monitoring ◽  
Ongoing Evaluation

The quality of life research program was envisioned as an undertaking to achieve deep and balanced (quantitative and qualitative) understanding of the community and to use this knowledge to guide change to improve quality of life for all in Saskatoon. To accomplish this, the program set its sights on undertaking participatory action research, soliciting meaningful and frequent input from the community at large not only on research questions and methods but also on the implication of results, and disseminating knowledge widely. The program was intended to be longterm and longitudinal (repeated cohorts) to allow ongoing evaluation and monitoring of community outcomes, and continued guidance for ways of improving quality of life.

Biopsychosocial Patterning of Multimorbidity and Its Consequences

2018 ◽  
pp. 220-236
Author(s):  
Elliot Friedman ◽  
Beth LeBreton ◽  
Lindsay Fuzzell ◽  
Elizabeth Wehrpsann
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Functional Outcomes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Chronic Medical Conditions ◽  
Quality Of Life Research ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Over Time

By many estimates the majority of adults over age 65 have two or more chronic medical conditions (multimorbidity) and are consequently at increased risk of adverse functional outcomes. Nonetheless, many older adults with multimorbidity are able to maintain high levels of function and retain good quality of life. Research presented here is designed to understand the influences that help ensure better functional outcomes in these older adults. This chapter presents findings that draw on data from the Midlife in the United States study. The independent and interactive contributions of diverse factors to multimorbidity and changes in multimorbidity over time are reviewed. The degree that multimorbidity increases risk of cognitive impairment and disability is examined. The role of inflammation as a mediator is considered. Multimorbidity is increasingly the norm for older adults, so better understanding of factors contributing to variability in multimorbidity-related outcomes can lead to improved quality of life.

scholarly journals Quality of Life and Philosophy of Life Determines Physical and Mental Health: Status Over Research Findings From The Quality of Life Research Center, Copenhagen, 1991-2007

2007 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 1743-1751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Søren Ventegodt ◽  
Isack Kandel ◽  
Joav Merrick
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Social Indicators ◽  
Health Science ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Quality Of Life Research ◽  
Global Quality Of Life ◽  
The Individual

Quality of life (QOL) has over the past decade become an important part of health science and also increased public awareness. It has become increasingly apparent that illness is closely related to the individual perception of a good life, and therefore the exploration of indicators related to quality of life appears to be of broad importance for the prevention and treatment of diseases. Identifying, which factors constitute a good life may reveal an understanding about what areas in life should be encouraged, in order to enhance the global quality of life, health, and ability. In this paper we present results from studies initiated in 1989 to examine quality of life in relation to disease. The purpose of this presentation was to assemble the results from the study carried out in the years between 1993 and 1997, examining a total of 11.500 Danes, to show the association between quality of life and a wide series of social indicators.

A Mixed Method Approach to Quality of Life Research: A Case Study Approach

2007 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Dunning ◽  
Allison Williams ◽  
Sylvia Abonyi ◽  
Valorie Crooks
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
Case Study Approach ◽  
Mixed Method Approach ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Quality Of Life Research ◽  
Method Approach

scholarly journals Clinical Holistic Medicine: A Pilot Study on HIV and Quality of Life and a Suggested Cure for HIV and AIDS

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 264-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Søren Ventegodt ◽  
Trine Flensborg-Madsen ◽  
Niels Jørgen Andersen ◽  
Mohammed Morad ◽  
Joav Merrick
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Hiv And Aids ◽  
Cd4 Count ◽  
Holistic Medicine ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Ethical Attitude ◽  
Validated Questionnaire ◽  
Clinically Significant ◽  
Higher Consciousness

This study was undertaken to examine the association between the immunological impact of HIV (measured by CD4 count) and global self-assessed quality of life (QOL) (measured with QOL1) for people suffering from HIV, to see if the connection was large and statistically strong enough to support our hypothesis of a strong QOL-immunological connection through the nonspecific, nonreceptor-mediated immune system, and thus to give a rationale for a holistic cure for HIV. This cross-sectional population study in Uganda included 20 HIV infected persons with no symptoms of AIDS and a CD4 count above 200 mill./liter. The main outcome measures were CD4 count, global QOL measured with the validated questionnaire QOL1, translated to Luganda and translated back to English. We found a large, clinically significant correlation between the number of T-helper cells (CD4) and global self-assessed quality of life (QOL1) (r = 0.57, p = 0.021), when controlled for age, gender, and years of infection. Together with other studies and holistic medicine theory, the results have given rationale for a holistic cure for HIV. We suggest, based on our findings and theoretical considerations, that HIV patients who improve their global QOL, also will improve their CD4 counts. Using the technique of holistic medicine based on the life mission theory and the holistic process theory of healing, we hypothesize that the improvement of QOL can have sufficient biological effect on the CD4, which could avoid or postpone the development of AIDS. A holistic HIV/AIDS cure improving the QOL draws on hidden resources in the person and is thus affordable for everybody. Improving global QOL also means a higher consciousness and a more ethical attitude, making it more difficult for the HIV-infected person to pass on the infection.

scholarly journals Variation in the Quality of Life within Punjab: Evidence from MICS, 2007-08

2010 ◽  
Vol 49 (4II) ◽  
pp. 863-879
Author(s):  
Rashida Haq Rashida Haq ◽  
Azkar Ahmed ◽  
Siama Shafique
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Final Outcome ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Quality Of Life Research ◽  
Level Of Living ◽  
Broad Continuum

Since quality of life research is essentially concerned with measuring and monitoring welfare. In order to measure quality of life, one must have a theory of what makes up a good life [Cobb (2000)]. There is a variety of such theories and notions of what constitutes a ‗good life‘ and correspondingly different concepts of welfare and quality of life have been developed. Various approaches and operationalisations are to be distinguished, each of which reveals a different concept of welfare and thus highlights different components and dimensions [Noll (2000)]. Among the various efforts to operationalise welfare in general and the quality of life concept in particular, two contrary approaches are to be distinguished, which define the two extreme positions on a broad continuum of concepts currently available: the Scandinavian level of living approach [Erickson (1993)] and the American quality of life approach [Campbell (1976)]. The Scandinavian approach focuses almost exclusively on resources and objective living conditions, whereas the American approach emphasises the subjective well-being of individuals as a final outcome of conditions and processes.

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