Subjective quality of life of community living Sudanese psychiatric patients: comparison with family caregivers' impressions and control group.
BACKGROUND
Researchers have paid scant attention to comparative studies of quality of life (QOL) issues among psychiatric diagnostic groups; the studies of patient-caregiver concordance ratings had small sample sizes; and the reports are rare from the African and Arab worlds.


OBJECTIVE
to assess the subjective QOL of stable Sudanese outpatients, using the WHOQOL-Bref, compared with a general population sample; examine the caregiver-patient concordance; and assess the variables that impact on domains of QOL.


METHODS
The responses of outpatients with schizophrenia (99), major affective disorders (120) and neuroses (81) (mean age 33.8) were compared with 211 controls and the impression of their family caregivers.


RESULTS
Patients were dissatisfied with life circumstances; the schizophrenia group and those with co-morbidity had significantly lower QOL scores; while the control group had higher QOL scores. There was no significant impact on QOL domains, of socio-demographic factors, duration of illness and treatment side effects. The schizophrenia group had least concordance with caregivers, but eight items were judged to be satisfactorily concordant for all groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Psychiatric patients in stable condition can make reliable judgments of QOL, with relatives providing additional information. Differences in QOL and concordance of ratings reflect disease severity.
Awadalla
A W
AW
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait.
Ohaeri
J U
JU
Salih
A A
AA
Tawfiq
A M
AM
D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D035061:Control Groups; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D013397:Sudan; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires