How Older Adults and Adults With Health Conditions Define Wellbeing and Quality of Life: A Narrative Review

Wellbeing and quality of life (QoL) are widely used concepts within health and social care research, practice and policy internationally. Despite their universal use, the definition of these concepts and subsequent application are subject to continued debate. The terms continue to be used, often interchangeably, and may not align with personal definitions for service users. This narrative review explored definitions of wellbeing and QoL of life from older adults and adults with health conditions as major users of health and social care services. Informed by systematic reviewing principles, a comprehensive search of CINAHL, SocINDEX and PsychInfo was conducted on 30 January 2025. A total of 65 qualitative studies were included for analysis; 26 studies related to definitions of wellbeing and 39 related to QoL. The findings revealed that, for older adults and adults living with health conditions, wellbeing is an affective internal experience of positive feelings, an integrated sense of self and general health, alongside experiencing meaning through engaging with the external world. QoL is a cognitive appraisal of whether an everyday life is being lived. Wellbeing and QoL are separate but related and overlapping concepts; thus, the terms are not interchangeable and should be used judiciously. The findings from this narrative review can inform international health and social care practice in the community, including guiding assessment, intervention and selection of appropriate outcome measures. The findings have implications for future research, including the development of new outcome measures to capture meaningful changes related to wellbeing and QoL for older adults and adults living with health conditions.