HealthyQOL.com Equitable People Centred Health Measurement

Quality of Life Assessments
for Older Adults and Family Caregivers

The resources on this page focus on QOL assessments for older adults living with frailty, and their family caregivers.

Tools for QOL assessments have been shown to help:

Learning Resources for
QOL Assessment User Groups

Click to download Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these resources.

illustration-of-older-adult-family-caregiver-house-qol-assessment

The “Live Your Best Life Possible” and the “Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Quality of Life Assessments” brochures are for older adults or family caregivers.

These resources can help you live your best life possible.

What to Do

  • ANSWER the quality of life questions online each time before you have an appointment with your healthcare provider.
  • ASK your healthcare provider if you can talk about the answers you provided when you are at your appointment.
  • LEARN more by viewing these videos and brochures.

A Better Life Video (6 mins)



A Better Life–Quality of Life Assessments Video (2 mins)



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The “Start the Conversation About Quality of Life Assessments” brochure introduces QOL assessments and gives talking points for speaking to both older adults living with frailty, and their family caregivers. The “The Truth About Quality of Life Assessments" discusses the myths and facts associated with QOL assessments for older adults and their family caregivers.

Both these resources are designed to help healthcare providers incorporate QOL assessments into their practices and enhance person-centred healthcare decisions.

What to Do

  • INCORPORATE the use of QOL assessments in your practice.
  • ENGAGE both older adults living with frailty and their family caregivers in QOL assessments.
  • USE QOL assessment responses to inform care decisions.
illustration-of-healthcare-managers-and-leaders-qol-assessment

The “Start the Conversation About Quality of Life Assessments” brochure gives talking points for speaking to healthcare leaders and decision makers. The “Making a Difference With Quality of Life Assessments" fact sheet offers details and statistics about QOL assessments for older adults living with frailty, and their family caregivers.

Both these resources are designed to help healthcare managers and leaders incorporate QOL assessments into their organisations and/or inform person-centred healthcare decisions.

What to Do

  • START the conversation with other healthcare managers and leaders.
  • ACCESS reports on QOL assessment data.
  • USE QOL assessment reports to inform healthcare decisions.
illustration-of-government-leaders-and-decision-makers

The “Fact Sheet About Quality of Life Assessments” and the “Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Quality of Life Assessments" brochures offer evidence about the value of QOL assessments.

These resources are designed to highlight the value of using QOL assessment data to inform system-wide healthcare decisions for older adults living with frailty, and their family caregivers.

 References / Citations (PDF - 14 pgs, 184 KB)

 Environmental Scan Additional Resources (PDF - 9 pgs, 512 KB)

 Our Team (PDF - 3 pgs, 687 KB)

Our Publications

  •  Publication: Schick-Makaroff, K., Sawatzky, R., Cuthbertson, L., Öhlén, J., Beemer, A., Duquette, D., Karimi-Dehkordi, M., Stajduhar, K., Suryaprakash, N., Terblanche, L., Wolff, A., Cohen, SR. (2021). Knowledge translation resources to support the use of quality of life assessment tools for the care of older adults living at home and their family caregivers. Quality of Life Research, 31, 1727-1747. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-021-03011-z

  •  Publication: Schick-Makaroff, K., Karimi-Dehkordi, M., Cuthbertson, L., Dixon, D., Cohen, S.R., Hilliard, N., Sawatkzy, R. (2020). Using patient- and family-reported outcome and experience measures to inform continuity across transitions of care for frail older adults living at home: A meta-narrative synthesis. The Gerontologist, 2020, 1-16. doi:10.1093/geront/gnz162

  •  Presentation: Sawatzky, R., Schick-Makaroff, K. Supporting quality of life assessments of frail older adults and their family caregivers. (2020, January 22). Canadian Frailty Network (CFN) Webinar. Available from: https://www.cfn-nce.ca/webinar/supporting-quality-of-life-assessments-of-frail-older-adults-and-their-family-caregivers/

  •  Publication: Sawatzky, R., Laforest, E., Schick Makaroff, K., Stajduhar, K., Reimer-Kirkham, S., *Krawczyk, M., Öhlén, J., McLeod, B., Hilliard, N., Tayler, C., Cohen, SR. (2018). Design and introduction of a quality of life assessment and practice support system: Perspectives from palliative care settings. Journal of Patient-Reported Outcomes, 2, 36. doi: 10.1186/s41687-018-0065-2


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This research is funded by Canadian Frailty Network (Technology Evaluation in the Elderly Network), which is supported by the Government of Canada through the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program.

™ Trademark of Canadian Frailty Network (Technology Evaluation in the Elderly Network) Used with permission.

Together, let’s build a people-centred healthcare system for everyone.

© 2025 Quality of Life Assessment Support Team.