ABSTRACT

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is viewed by patients, clinicians, and society as an important outcome of medical technology and disease control. HRQOL assessment has become necessary for the evaluation of pharmaceutical treatments, medical interventions, and in the tracking of population health. Behavioral medicine clinicians and researchers will benefit from recent advances in the assessment of treatment effectiveness. This chapter is not intended as a review of all HRQOL instruments; instead it provides a review of concepts less likely to be familiar to clinicians – ideas that are quickly determining how we measure health and the impact of behavioral medicine interventions. Further, we consider the role of outcomes assessment in the larger resource allocation process. We conclude by discussing what should be considered when choosing and applying a measurement strategy for assessing quality of life in a behavioral medicine setting.