Assessment of outcomes of health intervention.

This paper proposes that the most comprehensive current approach to the assessment of health interventions is exemplified in the expanding field of research into health-related quality of life. The paper initiates discussion of 11 conceptual and methodological issues which should be dealt with explicitly rather than by default in any such research study. Decisions about these 11 issues will shape the future directions of the field of health outcomes research. Health policy decisions will increasingly be based on outcome studies of health-related quality of life.