QUALITY
OF
LIFE
QUALITY OF LIFE
INTERNATIONAL DEVEOLPMENT
QUALITY OF LIFE INDICATORS
IMPROVE YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE
5 TIPS
QUALITY OF LIFE LINKS
QUALITY OF LIFE RESOURCES
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SECTION 1
QUALITY
OF
LIFE
The term quality of life is used to evaluate
the general well-being of individuals and
societies. The term is used in a wide range
of contexts, including the fields of;
international development,
healthcare,
politics.
Quality of life should not be confused with
the concept of standard of living, which is
based primarily on income. Instead, standard
indicators of the quality of life include not
only wealth and employment, but also the;
built environment,
physical and mental health,
education,
recreation and leisure time,
social belonging.
Also frequently related are concepts such as;
freedom,
human rights,
happiness.
However, since happiness is subjective
and hard to measure, other measures are
generally given priority. It has also
been shown that happiness, as much as
it can be measured, does not necessarily
increase correspondingly with the comfort
that results from increasing income.
As a result, standard of living should
not be taken to be a measure of happiness.
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SECTION 2
INTERNATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Quality of life is an important concept
in the field of international development,
since it allows development to be analyzed
on a measure broader than standard of living.
Within development theory, however, there
are varying ideas concerning what constitutes
desirable change for a particular society, and
the different ways that quality of life is
defined by institutions therefore shapes how
these organizations work for its improvement.
QUALITY OF LIFE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_of_life
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SECTION 3
12
QUALITY
OF
LIFE
INDICATORS
The Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators,
are the result of an extensive six-year study by
a multi-disciplinary group of practitioners and
scholars from government agencies, for-profit
firms, and nonprofit organizations who see the
need for more practical and sophisticated metrics
of societal conditions.
Overview of
the individual
indicators:
1. Education
2. Employment
3. Energy
4. Environment
5. Health
6. Human Rights
7. Income
8. Infrastructure
9. National Security
10. Public Safety
11. Re-Creation
12. Shelter
Quality of Life Indicators
http://www.calvert-henderson.com/overview.htm
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SECTION 4
TEN
WAYS
TO
IMPROVE
YOUR
QUALITY
OF
LIFE
1. Think daily.
Meditate. Call it what you will but spend time
each day alone with your thoughts. This surely
isn’t the first time you’ve heard that advice,
there’s a reason for that! There’s also a reason
that this is the first step in the list.
Doing the other things in the remaining nine
suggestions without taking some time to reflect
almost negates any benefit gained elsewhere.
2. Get in the zone.
Not only will these be your most productive
moments in life (the 20% of the time where
you accomplish 80% of the results) but it
will be a boost to your confidence that will
alter the decisions you make elsewhere in life.
3. Make it a point to do something bold every day.
Step out of your comfort zone, leave the routine
even if for only a second. This might mean talking
to someone that you generally wouldn’t talk to or
starting a project that you feel intimidated by.
There is no need to plan it in advance–though that
might help at times, usually though you’ll find a
point during the day when ‘two paths diverge in the
woods’ and you have the change to take the one less
travelled by. Take it.
4. Learn something new.
Pick a topic, preferably something you know nothing
about and learn something about it. A good source
of inspiration for this can be the newspaper or
Wikipedia.
It helps to retain it if you have time to make a
note of what you learned or explain it to someone
else, but even if you don’t get the chance to do
that, your brain will thank you for the new
patterns you introduce as you learn something new
every day.
5. Debate something.
If you think you know about something, nothing
will prove it like arguing it with someone who’s
smarter or more informed than you.
Find a friend you can debate with who has ideas
that are different from your and who won’t be
offended by debating them–this is easier said
than done, but it can provide you with some of
the best mental stimulation possible.
6. Spend time with a child.
If you have one, consider yourself lucky, if you
don’t, I bet you have friends who would be happy
to let you borrow theirs for a few minutes (or
hours).
It doesn’t matter what age they are, children
see the world entirely different. Look at it
from their eyes. Be their hero. Appreciate
what they appreciate. Enjoy the simple things
again. You’ll love it and they’ll love you
for it.
7. Go outside.
If you don’t naturally spend time outside, make
it a point to do it more. There’s something
about the expanse of the sky that will bring out
your inner philosopher.
8. Recognize what makes you happy.
Reflect on the parts of your day that bring you
real satisfaction. Everyone is working towards
something, but what makes you happy now? Rate
your overall satisfaction with your quality of
life for each day on a scale of 1 to 10, focus
on the things that happened that pushed the
number higher rather than what made it lower.
Try to incorporate more of what made you happy
yesterday into today.
9. Stop broken thoughts.
Broken thoughts are those subtle patterns that
aren’t quite big enough to fall into the bad
habits category. This means that despite their
harmful effect they often escape under the radar.
Broken thoughts often take the form of
justifications. Examples? I’m just going
to leave my dish here by the sink, I’ll
wash it later (when you know your spouse
will end up washing it).
I’m bookmarking this article to read later
(how often do you ever go back and read old
bookmarked articles?).
I’ll hang my shirt up later (when you know
it will be there for a week before you
touch it).
10. Don’t stress about it.
Ten Ways to Improve Your Quality of Life
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/ten-ways-to-improve-your-quality-of-life.html
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SECTION 5
5
TIPS
1. Find out what it is that makes you happy
and make sure that you reflect on those
moments everyday. If you focus on the happy
moments in your day rather then the negative
times in the day then you’ll feel a lot
better and happier.
2. Spend time with your family and friends as
much as possible. You’d be very surprised how
rewarding it is to spend a day with a family
member or friend when you’re dealing with
something in your life. Everyone relies on
their family and friends at some point so
don’t be afraid to call them up once in
awhile to spend time together.
3. Never stop learning, in fact you should
try learning something new everyday. It’s
very rewarding to learn something new as
you feel smarter. The more you learn the
smarter you’ll feel which will result in
a better quality of life for you.
4. Focus on what you need to do each day
and make sure that you get it done. When
you don’t complete what you want in a day
it can reflect the next day’s work as well.
You don’t want to fall into a slump of not
finishing your goals and work so always
stay focused on your tasks each day.
5. Spend some time each day gathering your
thoughts and clearing your mind. You should
have an area in your home where you can sit
down and really relax for a little while to
think about everything going on in your life.
This will give you a clear picture of
everything you need to do and everything you
want to do which will make you a lot more
determined to reach your goals and therefore
creating a better quality of life.
Tips for creating a better quality of life
http://ririanproject.com/2008/10/01/tips-for-creating-a-better-quality-of-life/
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SECTION 6
QUALITY
OF
LIFE
LINKS
American Medical Informatics Association
http://www.amia.org
American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS)
http://www.apos-society.org
Applied Research in Quality of Life
http://www.springer.com/11482
AQoL Instruments, Quality of Life Assessment Instruments
http://www.aqol.com.au
Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators
http://www.calvert-henderson.com/
CDC Health-Related Quality of Life
http://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/
Child Indicators Research
http://www.springer.com/12187
International Society for Quality of Life Research
http://www.isoqol.org/
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Journal of Happiness Studies
http://www.springer.com/10902
Mercer Quality of Living survey
http://www.mercer.com/referencecontent.htm?idContent=1128060
Notes on "Quality of Life"
http://www.gdrc.org/uem/qol-define.html
Online Quality of Life Scale
http://www.life-scale.org/
Phobia which significantly affects quality of life
http://www.besthealthsecret.com / phobia-which-significant /
Quality of Life
http://www.calresco.org/lucas/qol.htm
Quality of Life
http://www.elainesden.org/gpage19.html
Quality Of Life.org
http://www.qualityoflife.org/
Quality of Life IGDA
http://www.igda.org/qol/
Quality of Life Project
http://www.qualityoflifeproject.org/
Quality of Life Research
http://www.springer.com/11136
Quality of Life Technology Center
http://www.qolt.org/
Share Life Tips
http://www.sharedlife.net/
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SECTION 7
QUALITY
OF
LIFE
RESOURCES
Genuine Progress Indicator
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genuine_Progress_Indicator
Gross National Happiness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_National_Happiness
Gross domestic product GDP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product
Journal of Business Ethics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal_of_Business_Ethics
Nonlinear quality of life index
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_quality_of_life_index
Quality of working life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_of_working_life
Social Indicators Research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Indicators_Research
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