Quality of Life: “It's Like How You Enjoy Life”
Understanding quality of life conceptually did not come easily to this group of teens, as would be expected given their development and ability to comprehend the abstract nature of this concept. The actual term quality of life did not resonate with the teens. For the most part, they talked about quality of life in broad terms that did not relate to their lives. They described it as how good or bad your life is and how happy you are. Two teens referred to a definition of quality of life that they were taught in Grade 9 social studies, “It's like, how you enjoy life,” or referring back to a country's quality of life and comparing that to an individual's quality of life.