The aim of this encyclopedia is to provide a comprehensive reference work on scientific and other scholarly research on the quality of life, including health-related quality of life research or also called patient-reported outcomes research. Since the 1960s two overlapping but fairly distinct research communities and traditions have developed concerning ideas about the quality of life, individually and collectively, one with a fairly narrow focus on health-related issues and one with a quite broad focus. In many ways, the central issues of these fields have roots extending to the observations and speculations of ancient philosophers, creating a continuous exploration by diverse explorers in diverse historic and cultural circumstances over several centuries of the qualities of human existence. What we have not had so far is a single, multidimensional reference work connecting the most salient and important contributions to the relevant fields. Entries are organized alphabetically and cover basic concepts, relatively well established facts, lawlike and causal relations, theories, methods, standardized tests, biographic entries on significant figures, organizational profiles, indicators and indexes of qualities of individuals and of communities of diverse sizes, including rural areas, towns, cities, counties, provinces, states, regions, countries and groups of countries.

Psychosocial Stress: Trends in Theory and Research is a collection of literatures that discusses the psychosocial basis of psychological distress. The book contains six papers that are organized into three parts. The text first covers the prevalent themes in psychosocial stress research, which include role strains, dimensions of life, and coping efforts. The next part presents the conceptual framework studying for psychosocial stress. The last part tackles the methodological issues in psychosocial stress research. The book will be of great use to students, researchers, and practitioners of psychology. Scientists from related fields such as sociology will also benefit from the book.

Examined in this volume are theoretical components that range from the impact of psycho-neuro-immunology on stress to the impact of psycho-social stress on gene expression, the role of neurobiology and its effects on traumatization and resulting psychopathology, to clinical models that aid us in understanding the process of experiencing stressful life events and the subsequent accommodation of stress in our lives. Examined as well is the role of stress and physical illness and efforts of clinicians and researchers to develop an integrative model in understanding the spectrum of stress phenomena, related to physical and mental illness. Personality variables are seen as moderating the relationship between stress and psychological or physical illness. Concepts such as psychological hardiness may play a mediating or buffer role in the accommodation of stress.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on `Stress and Communities', Château de Bonas, France, June 14--18, 1994

It was our privilege, some twenty years ago, to assemble a group of Canadian and American investigators to examine the status of research in the then newly burgeoning field of psychological stress (Appley & Trumbull, 1967). As noted, in Chapter 1 of the present volume, there has been rapid development of the area since then. The conference on which the current volume is based was designed to do three things: 1. to further update the field, 2. to bring European and other perspectives to the subject, and 3. to focus on the status of theory of stress. We believe the reader will agree that all three objectives were accom plished, though in so vast and active a field, one can never be totally satisfied. The authors included in this volume are among the leading inves tigators in the field. They represent active research centers and programs in Austria, East and West Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Sweden, and the United States. Their chapters make contributions to stress theory and methodology, inform us meaningfully of the perspectives of the various research programs they represent, and provide, collectively, a description of the dynamics of the stress process as currently emerging.