WHOQOL-100 and public policies: assessing the quality of life of people assisted by housing policies

Abstract

The environment is one of the social determinants of health. In Brazil, social housing, financed by housing policies, tends to be built in spaces devoid of urban infrastructure and home ownership is accompanied by uncertainties in the conduct of daily life. This work aims to investigate the use of the WHOQOL - 100 quality of life questionnaire as an instrument for analyzing the quality of life of people attended by housing policy, integrating the fields of public health and urban planning, especially with regard to housing policies. The questionnaire was applied to 101 residents of a housing complex in São José dos Campos, a large city in São Paulo. Low self-assessment scores for quality of life, environment and subjectivity were found, compared to data available in academic publications, which assess, in general, sick populations. The results allowed, in the studied housing complex, to objectively assess the relationship between environment and quality of life, subsidizing the formulation and implementation of social policies integrated with housing policies to guarantee the social rights of the target populations of housing policies.

Keywords:
Quality of Life; Public Policy; Social Housing; Mental Health; Vulnerability