Human rights, the capability approach and Quality of Life: an integrated paradigm of support in the quest for social justice

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 156-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica De Maeyer ◽  
Hanne Vandenbussche ◽  
Claudia Claes ◽  
Didier Reynaert
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Life Worth Living ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Capability Approach

Purpose This paper highlights the integrative character of orthopedagogics. Quality of Life (QoL), as guiding the normative framework in orthopedagogics is explicitly connected with the framework of human rights and the capability approach (CA) in the quest for social justice and human dignity. The purpose of this paper is to question that how these three specific frameworks can cross-fertilize each other and result in the development of an integrated normative foundation for supporting people living in socially vulnerable situations. Design/methodology/approach This paper reflects on the question on how the human rights framework, the CA and the framework of QoL can be integrated in the support of people who find themselves in a socially vulnerable situation. Findings The core features of each framework are described. Originality/value To conclude the paper, commonalities and the added value of integrating these three frameworks are explored. By integrating these three frameworks, they could function as a shared agenda that gives direction to the daily actions of professionals, with attention for aspects at the micro, meso and macro levels. Each framework and their interrelatedness urge for an integrative approach of orthopedagogics where the strengths of different frameworks are recognized and used in order to support people in socially vulnerable situations to achieve a life worth living.

Application of psychometrics to assess quality of life in animals.

2021 ◽  
pp. 125-140
Author(s):  
Jacky Reid ◽  
Andrea Nolan ◽  
Marian Scott
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Health Related Quality ◽  
Medical Sciences ◽  
Life Worth Living ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Assess Quality

Abstract Animal welfare research is gradually moving towards inclusion of positive welfare, with the consideration of how animals can be provided a good life or a life worth living. The concept of quality of life, which originates from human medical sciences, definitely contributes to this. In this chapter the developers of the health-related quality of life tool for dogs share their expertise.

scholarly journals Towards a Capability-Oriented Eco-Social Policy: Elements of a Normative Framework

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Jean-Michel Bonvin ◽  
Francesco Laruffa
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Normative Framework ◽  
Normative Basis ◽  
The Capability Approach

In this article we explore the potential of the capability approach as a normative basis for eco-social policies. While the capability approach is often interpreted as a productivist or maximalist perspective, assuming the desirability of economic growth, we suggest another understanding, which explicitly problematises the suitability of economic growth and productive employment as means for enhancing capabilities. We argue that the capability approach allows rejecting the identification of social progress with economic growth and that it calls for democratically debating the meaning of wellbeing and quality of life. We analyse the implications of this conceptualisation for the design of welfare states.

scholarly journals Quality of life in a broader perspective: Does ASCOT reflect the capability approach?

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 1181-1189 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. van Loon ◽  
K. M. van Leeuwen ◽  
R. W. J. G. Ostelo ◽  
J. E. Bosmans ◽  
G. A. M. Widdershoven
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
The Capability Approach

scholarly journals Quality of Life in Poor Neighborhoods through the Lenses of the Capability Approach—A Case Study of a Deprived Area of Łódź City Centre

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7185
Author(s):  
Izabela Grabowska
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Conversion Factors ◽  
Economic Wealth ◽  
Building Level ◽  
The Capability Approach

The aim of the paper is to identify the mechanisms shaping the quality of life of the residents of poor neighborhoods based on the example of a deprived area of Łódź city center. To analyze this multidimensional phenomenon, the capability approach is used with a special focus on conversion factors that limit the pursuit of preferred lifestyles. Based on 80 in–depth interviews with residents and register data from public authorities (at the building level, which enables presenting the detailed spatial distribution of the analyzed issues), individual trajectories in the form of individual mechanisms have been established and then aggregated. The aggregation is presented as a web of social exclusion. The collected information has allowed the author to create a categorization of conversion factors in degraded areas that take into account their interrelationships and complex cause–effect mechanisms. The classification is constructed using the following categories: housing conditions, economic wealth, knowledge and skills, norms, attitudes and social capital, work environment, and life conditions (defined mainly as access to public services and space). Combining quantitative data (at the building level) with qualitative data provided the author with crucial input for the identification of specific public policy actions that can affect conversion factors.

Respecting privacy in care services

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 276-284
Author(s):  
Peter Bates ◽  
Brendan McLoughlin
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Human Services ◽  
Right To Privacy ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Care Services

Purpose In care homes concerns about abuse have established a culture where all information pertaining to a person must be shared, and little attention is paid to privacy in its broader sense. The purpose of this paper is to take a human rights perspective and consider how information governance may impact on the health, well-being and quality of life of residents. It proposes a proactive approach and presents a template for a privacy impact assessment which services could use to improve their approach to privacy, protecting the human rights of those in their care, contributing to their independence and improving outcomes. Design/methodology/approach A review of historical and current thinking about the value of privacy in human services and wider society leads to a series of challenges to the way in which privacy is upheld in residential care services. Findings Recent preoccupations with data privacy have led to a myopic neglect of broader considerations of privacy. Whilst it continues to be important to protect the confidentiality of personal data and to ensure that residents are protected from abuse, human services that provide 24 hour care in congregated settings must not neglect broader components of privacy. Research limitations/implications Privacy impact assessments have been widely used to check whether data privacy is being upheld. The broader concept that might be termed “Big Privacy” is introduced within which data privacy is but one section. It is suggested that big privacy is severely compromised in residential care settings, thus denying residents their human right to privacy. The extent of such violation of rights should be investigated. Practical implications Having set out the potential reach of the human right to privacy, important work needs to be done to find out how privacy might be upheld in the real world of congregate residential care. Some service providers may have solutions to the organisational challenges, have addressed staff training needs and revised risk assessment strategies so that privacy is upheld alongside other rights. Social implications Nearly half a million people live in congregate residential care settings in England, and deprivation of privacy is argued to be a significant deprivation of human rights. Occasional tragedies and scandals in congregate settings create pressure for increasing the level of surveillance, and the right to privacy is sacrificed. This paper offers a challenge to this process, arguing that competing rights need to be balanced and privacy is an essential component of a decent quality of life. Originality/value Personal growth and development depends to some extent on choice and control over access to privacy. Recent changes in the law regarding data protection have narrowed our thinking about privacy until it is a small concept, largely concerned with data handling. This paper invites consideration of big privacy, and invites congregate residential care settings to consider how a deep and broad definition of privacy could transform these services.

Well-being and Despair: Dante's Ugolino

Utilitas ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mozaffar Qizilabash
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Martha Nussbaum ◽  
Amartya Sen ◽  
Prudential Value ◽  
The Divine Comedy ◽  
Better Than ◽  
The Capability Approach

This paper considers three sorts of account of the quality of life. These are (1) capability views, due to Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, (2) desire accounts and (3) the prudential value list theory of James Griffin. Each approach is evaluated in the context of a tale of cannibalism and moral decay: the story of Count Ugolino in Dante's The Divine Comedy. It is argued that the example causes difficulties for Sen's version of the capability approach, as well as for desire accounts. Nussbaum's version of the capability approach deals withthe example better than Sen's. However, it fails adequately to accommodate pluralism. I suggest that James Griffin's account of well-being deals well with this example and accommodates pluralism. I suggest that, of the views considered, Griffin's is the best account of the quality of life.

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