IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v60y2005i8p1859-1868.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Variation and change in the meaning of oral health related quality of life: a 'grounded' systems approach

Author

Listed:
  • Gregory, Jane
  • Gibson, Barry
  • Robinson, Peter G.

Abstract

Changes in concepts of health and disease have led to increased interest in health related quality of life in medicine. Quality of life measures tend to treat quality of life as a stable construct that can be measured externally. They do not consider people's differing expectations and assume that what quality of life means to people is stable over time. This paper reports on a study which aimed to find out how measures of oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) vary between and change within individuals. Longitudinal semi-structured open-ended interviews were carried out with twenty people with socially noticeable broken, decayed or missing teeth who were or were not seeking dental treatment. The data were collected and analysed using the iterative processes of grounded systems theory based on Glaserian (Theoretical Sensitivity, The Sociology Press, Mill Valley, CA, 1978) grounded theory and Luhmann's (Social Systems, Stanford University, Stanford, 1984) social systems theory. During the data analysis it emerged that participants' were adopting positions on seven dimensions of oral health relating to the positions that people would adopt with respect norm, attribution, trust, accessibility, commodity, authenticity, and character. The core distinction that accommodated people's varying positions was that people constructed their own margins of relevance of oral health. The margins of relevance indicated a variable from a hypothetical extreme of 'super-relevant' to the other extreme of 'not relevant'. The margins of relevance could shift, meaning that assessments of quality of life would vary. Oral health related quality of life is therefore defined as the cyclical and self-renewing interaction between the relevance and impact of oral health in everyday life.

Suggested Citation

  • Gregory, Jane & Gibson, Barry & Robinson, Peter G., 2005. "Variation and change in the meaning of oral health related quality of life: a 'grounded' systems approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(8), pages 1859-1868, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:60:y:2005:i:8:p:1859-1868
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(04)00409-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Albrecht, Gary L. & Devlieger, Patrick J., 1999. "The disability paradox: high quality of life against all odds," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 977-988, April.
    2. Sprangers, Mirjam A. G. & Schwartz, Carolyn E., 1999. "Integrating response shift into health-related quality of life research: a theoretical model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(11), pages 1507-1515, June.
    3. Allison, P. J. & Locker, D. & Feine, J. S., 1997. "Quality of life: A dynamic construct," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 221-230, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paul Dolan & Henry Lee & Tessa Peasgood, 2012. "Losing Sight of the Wood for the Trees," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 30(11), pages 1035-1049, November.
    2. Ann Bowling & Zahava Gabriel, 2004. "An Integrational Model of Quality of Life in Older Age. Results from the ESRC/MRC HSRC Quality of Life Survey in Britain," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 69(1), pages 1-36, October.
    3. Astrid Wahl & Tone Rustøen & Berit Hanestad & Eva Gjengedal & Torbjørn Moum, 2005. "Self-Efficacy, Pulmonary Function, Perceived Health and Global Quality of Life of Cystic Fibrosis Patients," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 72(2), pages 239-261, June.
    4. Al-Janabi, Hareth & Keeley, Thomas & Mitchell, Paul & Coast, Joanna, 2013. "Can capabilities be self-reported? A think aloud study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 116-122.
    5. Anita Hubley & Lara Russell & Anita Palepu & Stephen Hwang, 2014. "Subjective Quality of Life Among Individuals who are Homeless: A Review of Current Knowledge," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(1), pages 509-524, January.
    6. Felix N. Fernando & Dennis R. Cooley, 2016. "An Oil Boom’s Effect on Quality of Life (QoL): Lessons from Western North Dakota," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 1083-1115, December.
    7. Damschroder, Laura J. & Zikmund-Fisher, Brian J. & Ubel, Peter A., 2005. "The impact of considering adaptation in health state valuation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 267-277, July.
    8. Julie Yun Chen & Eric Yuk Fai Wan & Edmond Pui Hang Choi & Anca Ka Chun Chan & Karina Hiu Yen Chan & Joyce Pui Yan Tsang & Cindy Lo Kuen Lam, 2017. "The Health-Related Quality of Life of Chinese Patients on Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 10(6), pages 799-808, December.
    9. Joseph T. King Jr. & Joel Tsevat & Judith R. Lave & Mark S. Roberts, 2005. "Willingness to Pay for a Quality-Adjusted Life Year: Implications for Societal Health Care Resource Allocation," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 25(6), pages 667-677, November.
    10. de Hond, Anne & Bakx, Pieter & Versteegh, Matthijs, 2019. "Can time heal all wounds? An empirical assessment of adaptation to functional limitations in an older population," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 180-187.
    11. Chia-Huei Wu, 2009. "Enhancing quality of life by shifting importance perception among life domains," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 37-47, March.
    12. S. Bentolhoda Mousavi & Dusica Lecic-Tosevski & Hassan Khalili & S. Zeinab Mousavi, 2020. "To be able, or disable, that is the question: A critical discussion on how language affects the stigma and self-determination in people with parability," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(5), pages 424-430, August.
    13. Octave Jokung & Serge Macé, 2013. "Long-term health investment when people underestimate their adaptation to old age-related health problems," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 14(6), pages 1003-1013, December.
    14. Thébaut, Clémence, 2013. "Dealing with moral dilemma raised by adaptive preferences in health technology assessment: The example of growth hormones and bilateral cochlear implants," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 102-109.
    15. Chen, Duan-Rung & Chang, Ly-Yun & Yang, Meng-Li, 2008. "Gender-specific responses to social determinants associated with self-perceived health in Taiwan: A multilevel approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(10), pages 1630-1640, November.
    16. Nele Van Hecke & Claudia Claes & Wouter Vanderplasschen & Jessica De Maeyer & Nico De Witte & Stijn Vandevelde, 2018. "Conceptualisation and Measurement of Quality of Life Based on Schalock and Verdugo’s Model: A Cross-Disciplinary Review of the Literature," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 335-351, May.
    17. Thomas Butt & Adnan Tufail & Gary Rubin, 2017. "Health State Utility Values for Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Review and Advice," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 23-32, February.
    18. Paul Dolan & Daniel Kahneman, 2008. "Interpretations Of Utility And Their Implications For The Valuation Of Health," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(525), pages 215-234, January.
    19. Banister, David & Bowling, Ann, 2004. "Quality of life for the elderly: the transport dimension," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 105-115, April.
    20. Raphaële R. L. van Litsenburg & Annemieke Kunst & Jaap Huisman & Johannes C. F. Ket & Gertjan J. L. Kaspers & Reinoud J. B. J. Gemke, 2014. "Health Status Utilities in Pediatrics," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 34(1), pages 21-32, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:60:y:2005:i:8:p:1859-1868. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.