This article is a result of the project "GreenHealth - Digital strategies in biological assets to improve well-being and promote green health" (Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000042), supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)". The authors are grateful to the FCT Portugal for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to UNIAG, under Project n. UIDB/04752/2020.
Quality of life is a person's perception of life in the context they belong in. It compresses multiple dimensions that need to be assessed. The EUROHIS-QOL-8 scale is an instrument that measures the subjective well-being of individuals and the impact of different health issues. It is a brief tool to measure the quality of life that includes eight items. The higher the results shown in this scale, the better the quality of life of individuals. The EUROHIS-QOL-8 has been proven to have good internal consistency and an excellent index for measuring the quality of life. It has been validated and reliable in many different contexts of application. This paper uses EUROHIS-QOL-8 to evaluate thermalists' perception of quality of life before and after attending a thermal spa. It intends to identify if there are differences between the state of quality of life before and after using thermal spa services. For this purpose, a self-administrated questionnaire was applied to the Termas de Chaves' users during the 2021 thermal season, i.e., between 09 August and 20 December. A convenience method of non-probability sampling allowed to obtain a sample of 213 thermal users. The data were analysed through statistical techniques of exploratory descriptive and inferential analysis. The results showed statistically significant differences in customers' perception of quality of life before and after 14 days of treatment. In addition, the study of five sociodemographic variables showed that the categories: female, up to 35 years old, single, without academic qualifications, and housekeeper were the most benefited from the thermal treatments. Regarding the analysis of pathologies, the participants guided by their family doctor to attend the Chaves thermal springs for respiratory problems showed the most significant improvement. The paper's results dissemination becomes an added value for verifying the benefits of thermal spas on the individuals' quality of life. It also allows for better development of thermal spa products to improve the quality of life perceived by individuals.
