A casual survey of Australians' perceptions of their quality of life

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.
Robert Louis Stevenson

Please answer Yes or Yes-and-No or No to the following questions:

1. Are you reasonably satisfied with the food you eat? the clothes you wear? the housing and neighbourhood you live in? the health services you can access?

2. Do you see yourself as a valued, respected and useful member of your community?

3. Do you have the resources to do the things considerd a normal part of life in your community?

4. Do you have adequate opportunities to express your capacity for and interest in creative and recreational activities?

5. Do you have adequate opportunities to express your capacity for and to satisfy your need for love and friendship?

6. Are you acceptably healthy, physically and mentally?

7. Are you reasonably satisfied with the opportunities you have to participate in the making of decisions which significantly affect your life?

8. Do you, on the whole, enjoy your normal daily activities?

9. Does life hold out some prospect of your becoming what you want to become?

10. Are you proud of being a member of this society?

11. If you answer Yes to these ten questions I would judge that you have high quality of life. If you disagree with that statement could you please indicate why you disagree. Are there other questions that are essential for checking on someone's quality of life?

12. If you answer No or Yes-and-No to any questions, and you have the time and energy, I'd appreciate knowing why you answered that way.

13. Even if you have not answered Yes to all questions, do you still regard your quality of life as high? medium? low?

Please send answers to d.cocks@labshop.com.au. I'll update the results I get from the survey on this Web page (www.labshop.com.au/dougcocks) every now and again (if I get any!)

If you want to tell me something about your age, background, circumstances etc that would be useful for understanding what's going on but not really necessary.

Doug Cocks

July 1999

 Update notes 2012

For those who might be interested, here is Stephen Boyden’s very thoughtful list of intangible needs that have to be satisfied if people are to be fully healthy

• An emotional support network, providing a framework for care-giving and care-receiving behaviour, and for exchange of information on matters of mutual interest and concern.
• The experience of conviviality
• Opportunities and incentives for co-operative small group interaction
• Levels of sensory stimulation that are neither much lower nor much higher than those of the natural habitat.
• An interesting environment.
• An aesthetically pleasing environment
• Opportunities and incentives for creative behaviour.
• Opportunities and incentives for learning and practising manual skills.
• Opportunities and incentives for active involvement in recreational activities e.g. dance,. Music
• Opportunities for spontaneity in behaviour.
• Variety in daily experience
• Short goal-achievement cycles and aspirations of kind likely to be fulfilled
• An environment and lifestyle conducive to a sense of personal involvement, purpose, belonging, responsibility, self-fulfilment, comradeship and love.
• An environment and lifestyle that do not promote a sense of alienation, anomie, deprivation, boredom, loneliness or chronic frustration

When measuring quality of life Sylva Larson asks people questions eg what is important for your individual well-being?...for social well-being?