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FAMILY QUALITY OF LIFE

The concept of quality of life has been accepted as an exciting

subject in recent years.
The studies focused on these questions:
-What is the quality of life?
-What does the quality of life explain?
-What are the indicators or parameters used to measure the
quality of life?" at individual, familial and social levels.
The first studies on quality of life began to be carried out mainly
in the 1970s.

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The US Federal Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA)
defines the quality of life as "improving the quality of the
environment in which people live; the well-being of individuals
and groups."

This definition emphasizes quality and quantity.

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Life quality includes:
-The resources that individuals have at a particular time
-The places they live
-Their physical, social, environmental, and psychological
conditions.

From this view, in some definitions of quality of life, the concept

of quality of life is explained by subjective well-being indicators.

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The University of Toronto Quality of Life Research Center
defines the quality of life as:
-The enjoyment degree of an individual from major
opportunities and
-The level of fulfillment with basic psychological needs in life.

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The basic needs of individuals, which must be met at every
stage of their lives, are related to the quality of life and
examined under three headings:
-Existence
-Belonging
-Achieving

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Existence: It is related to the individual's being a human.

Physical existence: Physical health, personal hygiene,

nutrition, exercise, clothes, and appearance

Psychological existence: Psychological health, psychological

well-being, positive self-evaluation, and self-control.

Spiritual existence: Personal values, standards of behavior,

and beliefs
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Belonging: It includes the interaction and harmony of the
individual with his environment.

Physical belonging: The individual's relationships with his

physical environment, feelings, and thoughts such as family
and work life, neighborhood, school, and joining a group.

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Social belonging: Social environment; a feeling of genuine and
sincere acceptance by family, friends, co-workers, neighbors,
and community

Community Belonging: Adequate income, opportunities such

as health and social services, employment, education,
entertainment programs, community activities, and participation
of individuals in these activities.

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Achieving: It is about individual goals, hopes, and aspirations.

Achieving requires doing some activities for a purpose;

Achieving project: Performing activities related to home, work,

or school, voluntary activities, and meeting health or social
needs.

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Achieving leisure time: Practicing activities that relax and
reduce stress, exercises, sports activities, walks, and family
visits.

Achieving development: Activities that support the knowledge

and skill development and ability to cope with the changes in
his life.

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The family is the first institution where an individual's physical
and psychological needs are met.

The support provided by the family to meet the individual's

needs both objectively and subjectively determines the
individual's perception of quality of life at the familial and social
levels.

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Opportunities such as:
Spending quality and pleasant time with other family members,
Producing efficacious solutions to family problems,
Close and supportive relationships between family members,
Providing family members the opportunity to benefit from
education and health services,
Living in a safe and comfortable environment

Determine the quality of life of individuals at the family level.

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Family support is a vital factor in determining the quality of life
of individuals, especially in families with individuals with mental
and physical disabilities.
Because in the system, the family constitutes the foremost
environment for the individual.
Other family members provide primary care for the person with
a disability and make the first and critical decisions on behalf of
the disabled individual.

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The opportunities offered to the family during the care process
are helpful, as well as the family's care capacity and resources,
in strengthening the family and supporting the improvement of
the quality of life.

Having a disabled person in the family is a substantial struggle;

therefore, families need support systems in disadvantaged
situations.

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Objective measure for Quality of Life
Although there is no complete consensus on the determinants
of family quality of life, opinions can be divided into two topics:
Objective and Subjective determinants.

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Objective determinants of family quality include:
The income level of the family
The characteristics of the house where the family lives
The neighborhood of the house
Food expenditures and poverty
The amount and quality of the consumer durable properties
owned by the family
The living conditions such as health or disability.

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The fundamental determinant of the objective measure of
family life quality is income level. Families with a high income
are more likely:
To live in a better home.
To live in a socially and culturally qualified neighborhood with
more opportunities
To spend sufficient expenses on food
To have a better quality nutrition
To have more durable properties.

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On the other hand, the education level of family members
affects the intellectual capacity of the family.

The individual's possibility of having a profession, working in

eligible jobs, and earning high incomes increases if family
members have a high intellectual ability.

Thus, the economic income of the family also increases.

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Subjective Measure for Quality of Life
A subjective measure of the life quality includes:
The personal and human-kind elements of individual
Family, and society like
Life satisfaction
Happiness
Peace
Goodness of occupancy conditions
Fulfilling needs, goals, and expectations
Actualization of values, love, and belonging

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Life standards are objective determinants defined by the
number of consumer goods owned by the family depending on
the income level.
The life standard is the most critical data for the quality of
family life.
But the pleasure of family members with their living standards
and evaluation of these conditions constitute the subjective
quality of life.

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For example, the fact that the family lives in a comfortable
residence is an objective determinant of the family's quality of
life.
The pleasure of the family with the house they live in is the
determinant of the subjective quality of family life.

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What is the most critical input in the formation of quality of life?

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Subjective quality of family life was first introduced by Andrews
and Withney in the quality of life study conducted in the USA in
1976.

In this research, the individual and the family were at the

center, and other variables surrounding them took place at the
micro and macro level.

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These variables are (respectively):
The individual, interpersonal relations
Family life,
Leisure time activities,
Housing,
Friendship and neighborly interactions,
Profession, education, services and opportunities,
Social structure, economic structure,
Local administration, and Country administration.

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SERVICES FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN, AND SOCIAL
PROGRAMS TO STRENGTHEN THE QUALITY OF FAMILY
LIFE

Families often encounter situations that need to be adapted

and problems that need to be solved, which negatively affect
and disrupt their quality of life and the family balance.

When families encounter internal and external stress factors,

they feel under pressure, and their efforts increase to adapt to
these situations.

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Internal stress factors in the family; include the characteristics
of individuals in the family, such as the personality structure
and low education levels of the parents, the personality
structure and developmental features of the children.

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In addition, life events such as loss of famil member (spouse,
children), divorce, childbearing, illnesses, and moving to
another house are among the internal stress factors that affect
the family.

Social change, adaptation to technology, and economic

structural features such as instability, unemployment, and
poverty are external stress factors for the family.

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"Family resistance" is gained by successfully managing the
stressful situations faced by the family, which results in
ensuring its continuity.

The family is responsible for satisfying support from family

members in stressful situations to cope with stressful situations
by using internal and external support resources.

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The intellectual capacity of family individuals, social relations
(neighborhood, relatives, friends, etc.), and economic capability
of family members constitute internal support sources.

Social services based on social policies, institutional services

like health and education services, psycho-social support, job
opportunities, etc., forms the external support resources.

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Here, programs and services for families and children will be
explained to improve the quality of family life.

Among these programs and services, family education

programs have a vital place.

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Educational programs for the family:
Structurally, institution-centered family education programs,
Family education programs based on distance education,
Home-based family education programs
Home and institution-centered family education programs

It can be divided into home and institution-centered family

education programs.

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In institution-centered family education programs:

Family education is usually performed by the institution where

the child is attended.

In this context, education and family information activities are

carried out in institutions that provide special education
services, universities, or official education institutions.

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Family education programs based on distance education:

Programs run via the Internet or television.

These programs enable them to reach more families

simultaneously and are economical.

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Home-centered family education programs:
Educators work with families in the home environment. These
programs focus on families who have children in early
childhood.
Also, they provide families with knowledge and skills on issues
such as child care, the child's developmental characteristics,
and how they meet their needs.
The aim of home-based programs is to determine the needs of
families in their own environment and plan together with the
family

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Home and institution-centered family education programs:
This is a combination of programs conducted at home and in
the institution.
These programs aim to gain and acquire skills not emphasized
in the institution by the children who attended educational
institutions via ongoing education in the family.

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Family Education Program in Turkey is one of the most critical
and comprehensive family education programs carried out
institutionally.
In addition, many non-governmental organizations, schools,
special education centers, and some universities carry out
short-term family education programs.
The Ministry of Family and Social Policies cooperates with
other institutions and organizations while carrying out the AEP.

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Why is there a need to determine psychological well-being in
the family?

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There is no doubt the most critical contribution that creates
quality lives is provided by the social environment.

Undoubtedly, the basic unit in the social environment is the

family.

Relationships in the family, the conditions of the family, and the

personality traits of the family members directly affect the
welfare of the family.

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The sustainability of a healthy society can only be realized with
families with a high income.

The family is a holy institution, especially in Turkish society

from the past to the present.

This point is also emphasized by the phrase "The family is the

foundation of society" in Article 41 of our Constitution (organic
law).

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As it is known, the family is the first institution where social
values are taught, transferred to new generations, and
personality development is formed.

So, positive evaluations of the environment and harmony within

the family are vital.

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As we look at the statistics in our country, it is seen that the
marriage rate is gradually decreasing, and the divorce rate is
increasing.

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According to TUIK data, 565,000 couples got married in 2003,
636,121 couples married in 2006, and 641.973 couples
married in 2008.

This number decreased to 591,742 in 2009, 592,775 in 2011,

and 603,751 in 2012. Thus, there has been a 5.95% decrease
in married couples in the last five years.

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In addition to these, 120,117 couples divorced in 2011;
The number of divorced couples increased to 125,305 in 2013.
The divorce rate has increased by 23.7% in the last five years.

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According to TUIK data, among the reasons for divorce,
irresponsible and irrelevant behavior of spouses comes first
with 26.6%.
"Other causes" are in the second rank at 23.4%, while violence
is in the third rank (20.8%) (TÜİK, 2013; TÜİK. 2014).

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McKeown et al. focus on three areas.

The factors that directly affect the well-being of the family,

family structure and functioning, and personality traits of
parents and socio-economic environment are:

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1. Family structure and functioning: Spousal relationships,
parent-child relationships, conflict resolution skills, segregation
of grandparents

2. Personality traits of parents: Negative and positive

emotions, psychological independence and interdependence

3. Socio-economic environment: Economic security, positive

or negative life events, and family income.

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