Health-related restrictions of choices and choosing: implications for quality of life and clinical interventions

BACKGROUND: The process of “accessing choices and choosing among them” (c-c) has been proposed as a model for understanding, evaluating, and assisting a patient’s management of quality of life. If desired choices are freely accessible, and the act of choosing is efficient and unconstrained, then the outcome is optimized quality of life. The c-c model fits many clinical situations where improved quality of life is a goal, and interventions may be aimed at relieving health-related restrictions of the patient’s desired activities. AIMS: To determine the impact of health restrictions of choices and choosing on indicators and outcomes reflecting quality of life. METHOD: Secondary analysis of a community-based health survey of three ethnic groups, 65 years and older (n = 2,130), repeated after 18 months, with mortality over 6 years. FINDINGS: Complaints of health restrictions of desired activities accounted for about half the variance of all determinants of a quality of life proxy indicator, and had a high frequency. Such complaints also predicted declines in mood and function, higher death rates, and increased service use. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical trials are warranted of the efficacy for quality of life improvement of interventions that focus on the relief of health-induced restrictions of desired activities.