Family quality of life, intellectual and developmental disabilities

In the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities, quality of life improves when a person’s basic needs are met and improves further when people have opportunities to pursue the important possibilities of their lives and to achieve their goals within major life settings. Yet it is very often small and nonexpensive aspects that improve quality of life, and this may be unique to individuals and families. Family quality of life (FQOL) is concerned with the degree to which individuals experience their own quality of life within the family context, as well as with how the family as a whole has opportunities to pursue its important possibilities and achieve its goals in the community and the society of which it is a part.