Quality of Life: Analyzing the Impact of Factors Related to Health, Based on System and Mathematical Models

• Main Authors: Il’yasov Baryi G., Martynov Vitalii V., Gerasimova Il’mira B., Makarova Elena A., Zakiyeva Elena S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, Vologda Research Center 2017-07-01
• Series: Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast
• Subjects: quality of life; quality of health; integral indicator; system model
• Online Access: http://esc.vscc.ac.ru/article/2282/full?_lang=en

The paper considers the formation of the structure of the indicator of the quality of health as a major factor that has the greatest impact on the quality of life. The paper also analyzes the properties of the proposed structure and main approaches to assessing and measuring the quality of life and quality of health. It is established that the integral indicator of health quality has a complex structure that belongs to the class of hierarchical structures. The paper studies properties of hierarchical structures with the help of systematic approach, according to which the integral indicator of health quality was broken down and three components (system indicators) were identified. They are as follows: quality of care, quality of environment and quality of health. Each component, in turn, was broken down and presented as a triad of interrelated objective and subjective indicators of lower level (partial indicators). The proposed system model for assessing the integral indicator of health quality is a spatial structure of this indicator, which takes into account the links between system indicators at the median level and the links between partial indicators at the lower level. A cognitive model that shows the interaction between partial indicators on the example of the “healthcare quality” component was elaborated. The concepts of the model are indicators of the lower level of the component under consideration, and their mutual impact is reflected in the relations with weight ratios that characterize the degree (strength) of influence. The integral indicator of health quality was calculated, which helped determine the ranges of values of the integral indicator, which correspond to a high, satisfactory, moderate, low and poor level of health quality. The influence of changes in particular indices on the integral indicator of health quality under various factors (both perturbing and controlling factors) was studied. The prospect of further research is to analyze the impact of an expanded list of partial indicators on the assessment of the integral indicator of health quality, the possibility of applying statistical analysis of particular indices to quantify the strength of linkages between them, and the use of the model for assessing an integral indicator of health quality as a dynamic object of management for efficient management decision-making