title: The sensitivity of quality-of-life scale WHOQOL-100 to psychopathological measures in schizophrenia.
abstract: We aimed to investigate the reliability and the clinical sensitivity of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-100) scale for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia because of its multilingual, multidimensional, and cross-cultural properties. Fifty-four stabilized outpatients with schizophrenia and 49 age-, sex-, and occupation-matched healthy control subjects were recruited. The scale showed high internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.94). While there was no correlation between total scores of psychopathology measures (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale [BPRS], Scale for the assessment of Negative Symptoms [SANS], Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms [SAPS], and Clinical Global Impression [CGI]), significant negative correlations were obtained especially between subscales of the BPRS, SANS, SAPS, and QOL domains. Stepwise multiple regression analysis also revealed that the BPRS anxiety/depression and SANS anhedonia subcales were the predictor variables in five of six QOL domains in the schizophrenia group. The better quality-of-life scores of the mild group on physical and psychological domains indicate that the WHOQOL-100 could be used as an outcome measure in clinical studies. Thus, the WHOQOL-100 scale is a reliable, subjective quality-of-life scale for patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. The clinical sensitivity should also be assessed in large follow-up studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, SSK Ankara Residency Training Hospital, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sibel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Orsel
authors.forename: Asena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akdemir
authors.forename: Ihsan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dağ
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011599:Psychopathology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D014421:Turkey