Patient perceptions of quality of life and treatment in an outpatient congestive heart failure clinic.

In an effort to better understand patients' definitions of quality of life (QOL) and to determine which tools would be most appropriate for use in future studies, a descriptive study was done in a university-based congestive heart failure clinic. Participants were asked a series of five open-ended questions regarding their perceptions of QOL during recorded interviews. Most patients equated QOL with the ability to perform physical functions in the same way they did before developing heart failure. They grieved for their former abilities and expressed lower self-esteem due to loss of independence from physical limitations. The Short Form-36 and the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire addressed the QOL issues important to our patients. It is important for health care providers to consider the patient's perception of QOL when using quantitative tools for QOL measurement in clinical practice.