This term is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of “standard of living”, which is based primarily on income. Instead, standard indicators of the quality of life include not only wealth and employment, but also the built environment, physical and mental health, education, recreation and leisure time, and social belonging.
Published in Chapter:
Social Networks as a Tool to Improve the Life Quality of Chronic Patients and Their Relatives
Miguel Guinalíu (University of Zaragoza, Spain), Javier Marta (Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Spain), and José María Subero (Aragón Government, Spain)
Copyright: © 2013
|Pages: 15
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-3986-7.ch009
Abstract
The evolution of society has modified the medical needs of the population from social and economic criteria. Social networks can partially help these new medical demands contributing to improve the life quality of chronic patients and their relatives through the modification of the ways of communication and interaction. In order to analyze the real value of social networks in this chapter the authors study a real case. This analysis allows them to identify the benefits that social networks can provide to chronic patients, as well as the barriers that must be considered to implement them as health service tools.