Quality of life and other characteristics of Viennese mental health care users.
BACKGROUND
The purposes of this study are (1) to characterise patients with different treatment experiences, (2) to evaluate differences in quality of life (QoL) among patients with different treatment experiences, (3) to evaluate changes in QoL following community resettlement, and (4) to find predictors of overall life satisfaction (OLS).


METHODS
Treatment experiences are defined according to service use as follows: (a) user of in- and outpatient services (overall users), (b) user of inpatient (inpatients) or (c) outpatient facilities only (outpatients). Demographic and clinical data of 425 psychiatric patients are analysed cross-sectionally in relation to their treatment experiences. QoL of former inpatients is followed up after hospital discharge.


RESULTS
Long-term 'overall users' have a significantly higher QoL than long-term 'outpatients' or 'inpatients'. QoL of former inpatients increases after discharge. Predictors of higher OLS are high income, high subjective social functioning (SFQ), good self-rated health, satisfactory QoL domains as well as being single or cohabiting, diagnosis of schizophrenia, 'outpatients', and 'overall users'. Together they explain 63% of the variance in patients' subjective OLS.


CONCLUSIONS
QoL is independent of illness severity. Deinstitutionalisation improves QoL and OLS is mainly predicted by subjective variables.
Lang
Andrea
A
Kuratorium für Psychosoziale Dienste Wien, Vienna, Austria. psd-quasi@netway.at
Steiner
Egbert
E
Berghofer
Gerlinde
G
Henkel
Helga
H
Schmitz
Margot
M
Schmidl
Friedrich
F
Rudas
Stephan
S
D001317:Austria; D003155:Community Mental Health Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D003688:Deinstitutionalization; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D012917:Social Adjustment