| Thursday, July 12, 2007: 10:15 AM-11:45 AM | |||
| Clinical Perspectives on Health-Related Quality of Life: Group Differences to Mediation | |||
| Learning Objective #1: The learner will be able to recognize issues related to HRQOL with families of children living with asthma. | |||
| Learning Objective #2: The learner will be able to understand the implications of exploring mediation variables of HRQOL for clinical practice. | |||
| Outcomes are key to understanding the effectiveness of patient care. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL), as a clinical outcome is integral to realizing the full extent of health in the delivery of nursing care. Optimizing HRQOL is intrinsic to the work and charge of professional nursing. It is an organizing concept of potential importance to all who work toward improving patient care. As an outcome, HRQOL facilitates communication between knowledge-oriented and action-oriented clinicians in that it provides a common goal. HRQOL is an expression of a person’s life process and it may be perceived by an individual as a strength, even in the presence of illness, that enables them to overcome or prevent further disability. Researchers are being urged to develop and test theoretical models that focus on HRQOL. Wilson and Cleary presented a HRQOL conceptual model focused on relationships among aspects of health. Their model linked physiologic variables, symptom status, functional health, general health perceptions, and overall quality of life. To fully appreciate the embedded constructs of HRQOL, both the methodological issues and the proposed theoretical relationships should be examined. The purpose of this symposium is to present three papers that investigate HRQOL. The presentation by Harris will explore HRQOL in children living with asthma as well as their caregivers. The presentation by Cook discusses the mediation effect of functional status on HRQOL in children living with asthma. And finally Dr. Sousa will address clinical implications of the mediation effect of functional status on the relationship between symptoms and quality of life in patients living with HIV. A careful examination of HRQOL can be enlightening. Developing and/or increasing nursing knowledge through testing the relationships between the dimensions of HRQOL in different populations is essential for nursing practice to ultimately improved patient outcomes. | |||
| Organizer: | Karen H. Sousa, RN, PhD | ||
| Health-Related Quality of Life: Differences Between Children Living With Asthma and Their Caregivers Judith A. Harris, RN, MS, CPNP | |||
| Functional Health as a Mediator of Health-Related Quality of Life of Children Living With Asthma Susanne W. Cook, RN, PhD | |||
| The Mediator Effect of Functional Health Between Symptoms and QOL Karen H. Sousa, RN, PhD | |||