Contents



Preface

This book is a collection of chapters written by scientists from all over the world who provide their insights about quality of life, focusing on a biopsychosocial perspective. The quality-of-life concept was born in the field of social sciences beginning in the 1970s and soon arrived in the field of medicine and health where it is mainly considered as a guiding criterion for health interventions. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines quality of life as the subjective perception that individuals have of their position in life, in the context of the culture and value system in which they live, in relation to their objectives, expectations, reference standards, and worries. It is a complex and articulated concept. It is specified by the perception of one's physical, psychological, and emotional health, by the degree of independence, by social relations, and the type of interaction with one's context. The quality-of-life construct is broader than that of health; it is not a synonym of it. The definition from the WHO connects elements resulting from an enormous amount of studies. In this sense, being healthy is considered a dimension of quality of life, and health-facilitating behaviors are considered the predictors of the quality of life itself. The definition of quality of life always includes a reference to the individual physical state, but is no longer considered only on the basis of the person's functionality quality, detectable with standardized parameters, since they are described in relation to the degree of perceived satisfaction with respect to the functionality level. This definition shifts the emphasis from the scope of objectively definable functionality to that of subjectivity; the detection of both these aspects

To focus on the complexity of this notion, this book is divided into six sections. The first section provides a global review with the chapter "Quality of Life and Biopsychosocial Paradigm: A Narrative Review of the Concept and Specific Insights" by Floriana Irtelli and Federico Durbano. The second section on "Health Psychology" contains two chapters: "Health Disparities" by Dr. Bey Ganga, and "Health Sexuality" by Prof. Rao T. S. Sathyanarayana. The third section on "Biological Perspectives" contains two chapters: "Effects of Exercise on Quality of Life of Type 2 Diabetes Patients" by Tomas Carus Pablo and "Quality of Life and Menopause" by Velasco Cesar. The fourth section on "Psychological Perspectives" contains three chapters: "Sport for the Subjective Dimensions of Quality of Life" by Peráčková Janca, "Behavioral and Psychosocial Factors as Mediators of the Oral Health Impact on Adolescents' Quality of Life" by Veronica Kozmhinsky, and "The Impacts of Parental Schizophrenia on the Psychosocial Well-being of Offspring: A Systematic Review" by Sabreena Hussain. The fifth section on "Social Perspectives" contains three chapters: "Quality of Life from the South: Local Knowledge and Socio-ecological Relationships in Times of Global Climate Change" by Rojas Hernández Jorge, "Services for Children with Disabilities and their Families: The Impact on the Family's Life Quality" by Tamara Džamonja Ignjatović, and "Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics of Living Conditions of Elderly Quilombolas from Maranhão, Northeast Region, Brazil" by Rafaela Macedo Pires Ferreira, Eriko Bruno Costa Barros, and Bruno Luciano Carneiro Alves de Oliveira. The final section on "Spiritual Perspective" contains one chapter divided into two parts: "Spirituality and Hansen's Disease: Spirituality' Conceptual Structure

constitutes a reliable measure of the quality of life.
