A mixed methods analysis of quality of life among late-life patients diagnosed with chronic illnesses

BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QOL) is an important consideration for people living with advancing chronic conditions. Palliative care providers speak about how, despite physical decline in late life, many patients report growth and meaning in other domains. This mixed methods study uses QOL survey responses to explore domain trajectories and interview data to explore how patients with advancing chronic conditions experience distinct QOL domains. METHODS: The study sample includes 156 now-deceased participants who completed the FACIT-Pal quarterly, and 40 (10 now-deceased) participants who discussed QOL in an interview. Mean subscale scores were plotted over participants’ last 18 months to reveal QOL trajectories. Interview data were analyzed to reveal how participants’ experience, actions and cognitive processes influenced QOL scores. RESULTS: Physical and functional subscale ratings show gradual decline. Emotional QOL maintains with a small dip 2–3 months before death, and social QOL ratings improve in participants’ final 3 months. Participants create and strengthen relationships that help them better manage health and receive instrumental and emotional support; seek activities in which they can find joy, meaning, and purpose; and support cognitions through which patients accept and communicate about illness, and emphasize positives. CONCLUSION: QOL domains exist in different trajectories. Despite physical and functional decline, participant ratings of emotional QOL maintain and ratings of social QOL improve at end of life. Understanding the processes through which participants countered declining QOL may help providers identify how to best support and promote improved QOL for patients during their final months.