[Quality of life connected with nursing practice and research--some challenges]

Quality of life is increasingly being recognized as an important outcome in patient care. In spite of the popularity of the concept, its use is not without difficulties. Because quality of life is a subjective phenomenon it is not easy to define, as no gold standard exists as to what is a good life. This has resulted in different definitions of quality of life as well as discrepancies of design and development of instruments to measure the construct within different sciences. The usefulness of quality of life within nursing research and practice is dependent on: 1) the way the concept is defined and operationalized, 2) the clinical relevance of the questions raised in the study, 3) study design and 4) further methodological development.