In Sight—QOL Testing: Complementing Clinicals

By: K. Schaefer, Cosmetics & Toiletries magazine

Posted: January 4, 2008, from the January 2008 issue of Cosmetics & Toiletries.

Defining Well-being
Quality of life (QOL), also known as well-being, is measured most often by political or social groups to determine the economic state of a targeted population. The World Health Organization defines health as a combination of physical, mental and social well-being. Personal care efficacy tests are known to test the physical effects or toxicity of products, often omitting more abstract and possibly equally as important factors such as well-being.

Many professionals in the spa industry maintain that certain treatments and products can affect not only physical characteristics but also the consumer’s well-being. Some individuals in the personal care industry agree; however, debate exists in the industry as to whether there are ways to test well-being.

The Demscan Group believes that the physical and mental effects of products are intertwined and that both are necessary to create a complete package, in turn providing the most effective products. The company has developed two QOL scales that measure the well-being effects of personal care products on consumers. Anne Sirvent, scientific communications and R&D manager for the company, believes that testing well-being is necessary to launch a product into global success.

Why Test Well-being?
The company’s notion of testing the effects of personal care products on well-being initially came from observing the impact of well-being on diseases and disfigurations.

 “It has been demonstrated that when individuals with disfigurations or skin disorders use camouflage cosmetics, they become more confident, which increases their well-being and eventually improves their health,” said Sirvent.