This Question Is Based On The Essay

This question is based on the case study of Bill given below. How have recent events affected Bill's quality of life?

This essay will aim to explain how the recent events had a change and affect on Bill's quality of life. But first there must be a clear explanation in order to develop a certain type of understanding of what 'quality of life' actually means. There are objective and subjective aspects to take into consideration. The objective aspect to it are seen as the things that are more common and essential to living. The very basics which are more likely to be agreed to universally, such as good health or security. On the other hand the subjective aspect to it are more personal beliefs of what can lead to a tranquil life. These things can be distinguished by the individual or by groups. A example of this may be a person's taste in a type of music or their religious beliefs. In regards to Bill, an example of this may be the fact that he likes to take his dog out for a walk.
It can be argued a great deal that Bill's recent events have changed his life dramatically thus affecting his quality of life. In particular for the worse. The case study explains that Bill who is a 68 year old and lives alone, still managed to lead a very active and happy life despite living alone and having been a widow of five years; A few aspects that may cause unhappiness in the quality of any person's life. The case study goes on to explain that Bill was a electrician. It can be argued despite all of Bill's tribulations, he has survived and made a life that could provide happiness and stability. American psychologist Abraham Maslow (1970) included those points in his level of basic human needs. To further this argument, Maslow (1970) also included other factors such as belongingness and love. Bill walking his dog and meeting his friends can be seen as such act. However it can be argued that Bill's happiness could never have really been determined due to the fact that there was no real confirmation from another source that Bill was happy which is a very definitive way of confirming if a person is happy or unhappy. It would be difficult to investigate since Bill was not directly asked which according to Bowling (2005) can only be understood by asking about feelings. Nevertheless since the case study did not go into much detail, there can be a level of confidence in assuming that Bill did lead a relatively happy life with what little information was described. However since the course of events have led Bill to be unemployed due to the fact he cannot physically work, Nettle (2005) and Layard (2005) believe that one of the external factors which is associated with happiness and with wellbeing is employment. So it can be argued that due to the fact that Bill is now unemployed, this may cause him unhappiness. Len Doyal and Ian Gough (1991) debated in their book, A Theory of Human Need, that physical health and survival along with autonomy are the basic 'human needs that must be satisfied in order to participate in society' and a failure to fulfil these needs may cause a person serous psychological harm. So it can be argued that because Bill could no longer work due to his leg being broken along with the chemotherapy treatment, these factors may be what has caused Bill to become depressed. There have been many writers who have suggested that personal factors such as good health can contribute to happiness (Diener and Biswas-Diener, 2008; Seligman, 2003; Laynard, 2005). Kwok-Fu Wong (2003) claims there are four different sources of power when looking at it from a developmental studies perspective. One of them in particular is the 'Power-from-within'. This basically describes a personal power; One that may stem from a high self-respect as well as a high self-esteem.

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