[Quality of life and schizophrenia. A review of the literature].
The aim of this paper was to clarify the concept of quality of life (QOL) and to identify appropriate goals for future studies on the QOL of patients with schizophrenia, by historically review of the literature. First, the concept of QOL was discussed. With the recent move to attach more importance to outcomes in health services, more attention has been paid to QOL as an indicator of patients' perceived outcomes, and many studies on QOL have been published since 1990. Although definitions of QOL differ from researcher to researcher, four fundamental characteristics are identified: 1) QOL is based on the response from the patient himself/herself, 2) it is the subjective experience of the patient, 3) its index is multifactorial, and 4) scores for QOL change with time. Next, the QOL models of Bigelow, Lehman, and Skantze and Malm were reviewed as models of the QOL of patients with schizophrenia, and seven QOL scales were also discussed. Last, studies on the QOL of community residents with schizophrenia retrieved from the Medline and Japana Centra Revuo Medicina databases for 1992 to 2002 were examined. The strategy used for the search was "Quality of Life, psychiatric". As a result, patients with schizophrenia had lower total QOL scores compared to non-disabled persons and patients with depression. Factors associated with their QOL were personal characteristics, lifestyle, negative symptoms, mental symptoms, adjustment (to relations with family, friends and others), social support, self-esteem, autonomy. Results indicated that a longitudinal study is needed to clarify the relationship between these factors and QOL affected by psychological variables of the patient and develop effective psychosocial intervention necessary in the care of patients with schizophrenia.
Kunikata
Hiroko
H
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Welfare Science, Okayama Prefectural University.
Mino
Yoshio
Y
D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012944:Social Support