["How Nice that Someone is Interested in me for a Change"].
OBJECTIVE
To obtain indicators for the setup and further development of appropriate provisions for relatives of long-term schizophrenia patients in Tyrol (Austria), the quality of life of the main caring relatives of these patients was assessed and compared to that of a control group from the general population. In addition we were interested in identifying variables that may be useful predictors of the relatives' quality of life.


METHODS
Fourty-four relatives of long-term schizophrenia patients and 90 controls of the general population were included in the study. To assess their quality of life we employed the generic questionnaire WHOQOL-100, complemented by own questions reflecting the special situation of the relatives.


RESULTS
The quality of life of the relatives was significantly lower than that of the general population in almost all domains assessed. Fear of discrimination, concern about the care of the patient in later life and the feeling of a lack of security because of the patient correlated significantly with a reduced quality of life of the relative. Living in separate households went along with a higher quality of life of the relative. The association between the relatives' quality of life and their involvement in self-help groups or patient participation in social-psychiatric rehabilitation was unexpectedly low.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of our investigation indicate in which domains there is a need to improve mental-health services and to develop and extend efforts of self-help groups in order to raise the quality of life of relatives of long-term schizophrenia patients.
HPE-Tirol, Innsbruck, Osterreich. maria.fischer47@aon.at
Maria
M
Fischer
Georg
G
Kemmler
Ullrich
U
Meise
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001317:Austria; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003688:Deinstitutionalization; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012657:Self-Help Groups; D012944:Social Support; D012949:Social Work, Psychiatric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires