QUALITY OF LIFE IN INCURABLE PATIENTS

This contribution defines the term quality of life from various perspectives, with an effort to specify it complexly as a multi component term. The results of this paper present findings concerning quality of life in dying patients, obtained by using the McGill questionnaire, in relation to the level of extroversion and neuroticism (EPQ-R). The results have showed us that there is a negative correlation between emotional instability level and overall quality of life. Concentrating on extroversion, our hypothesis of a correlation between extroversion and the overall quality of life in dying patients measured by the McGill QOL questionnaire was not confirmed. This paper also defines and proves the importance of social support, which correlates positively with quality of life in dying patients. It reveals that there is a need for a complex approach towards seriously ill patients, including social aspects of the patient's life. Significant correlations were found by exploring the relation between degree of satisfaction with social support and quality of life. The more the patient was satisfied with the social support that he/she was getting from close people, the higher the life satisfaction he/she indicated.