Viewing quality of life in the larger context

The present article discusses four aspects of the emerging concept of quality of life that are currently impacting significantly on policy development and habilitation services for persons with intellectual disability. These four include: (1) basing policy and service delivery upon an agreed upon model of quality of life; (2) using quality enhancement techniques to increase consumer referenced outcomes; (3) considering quality assurance as a type of internal program evaluation built around a number of critical quality indicators that are agreed upon and assessed jointly by the consumer, service provider and regulatory body; and (4) conducting internal program evaluation and implementing quality enhancement techniques if necessary to improve consumer referenced outcomes. The general thesis of the article is that quality of life needs to be viewed in the larger context of policy and program development, service delivery, and program evaluation, and not as an attribute that some persons may have more or less of.