KEY POINTS:
New Zealand has gained a key role in the World Health Organisation's quality-of-life scheme with a research centre in Auckland.
Based at AUT, the centre is part of an international drive to research quality of life by adapting generic WHO measurements from different countries.
The centre was opened in February, and the first postgraduate researchers will begin their work there in the next two months, said the centre's convener, AUT lecturer Daniel Shepherd.
The centre's research could streamline health planning and strategy in New Zealand, he said.
At present, every New Zealand district health board, council and health-based Government agency used a different quality-of-life assessment method with its population.
This meant there was no consistency, and comparing groups was either difficult or impossible.
The centre planned to present the quality-of-life data as a standardised measurement, meaning the New Zealand models it developed could be used as "meaningful data" by those groups in the future.
New Zealand norms, including Maori and Pacific Island trends, would be researched, and a website for use by New Zealand researchers and organisations would be developed, Dr Shepherd said.
The research would look at treatment outcomes not only in terms of symptom reduction, but also with reference to quality of life, he said.
If results showed quality of life was low even though symptoms were reducing, alternative treatments or strategies to improve quality of life would be considered.
"This is the direction health care is moving in. While the person may not be experiencing severe symptoms, they may still have a poor quality of life because of their health condition."
The centre could continue indefinitely, Dr Shepherd said, and would remain the sole WHO centre for this research in the country.
PIONEERING WORK
* The Auckland-based centre is made up of academics and health professionals from around New Zealand.
* The research consists of four main dimensions: psychological, physical, social and environmental wellbeing.
* Its aim is to establish general New Zealand population norms in clinical populations.
