Abstract
The importance of the subjective indicator of Quality of Life（QOL）is pointed out as an outcome of treatment and care for cancer and other choronic disseases. The concept of QOL is used these days. QOL is also considered impotant in the study of familial tumors. QOL research is a field that deals with issues of personal subjectivity: the subjects’ manner of perceiving matters may change depending on the time or event. Thus, it is important to take such changes into account in desighn of QOL studies. The concept of a “response shift” is sometimes used to explain it. When conducting QOL research, this is one of the important concepts. At present, it may be considered that we have not necessarily obtained any clear conclusions with regard to how to adopt this concept as a method or how to interpret it. Further discussion on the subject is desired. In this paper, the basic contents such as response shift, including definitions, theoretical model, and measurement methods are provided with typical books and papers when describing the current status of research. The then test, one of the methods used to detect response shift, is presented in detail. In addition, previous research including a typical paper and a meta-analysis are shown. Finally, future tasks on response shift are described.
