Active Aging and Quality of Life

Abstract

The constructs Active Aging (AA) and Quality of Life (QoL) are both relatively new multidisciplinary concepts in the field of aging and health, with overlapping dimensions and shared problematic issues, and with apparently different epistemological roles within research, given that QoL is considered in its definition to be the outcome of AA. This paper will examine the history of both concepts, the most commonly accepted definitions as well as problematic theoretical and methodological flaws. Finally, we will examine in our own database on QoL and AA the extent to which it is possible to distinguish between them, or whether they are essentially redundant constructs.