The importance of personal factors in assessing quality of life

Quality of life has emerged as a dominant concept in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities, and has been conceptualized, measured, and applied in various ways. To date, the importance to quality of life assessment of personal factors that take on extraordinary prominence in people's lives has only been superficially recognized. This article argues that four main types of personal factors are sometimes extraordinarily prominent and consequently become dominant factors in assessing quality of life: those that are important to all people but have become particularly important to some individuals and families; those that are not very important to most people but are extremely important to some, often because of specific interests and talents; those that result from both positive and negative, often temporary, situations that emerge in life; and those that are a consequence of personal characteristics. It is purported that measurement and application methods that recognize the importance of personal quality of life factors need to be developed and used as a component of an overall quality of life paradigm.