title: Determinants of objective and subjective quality of life in first-time-admission schizophrenic patients in Poland: a longitudinal study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study involved a naturalistic, prospective project assessing objective and subjective dimensions of quality of life (QoL) and the range of its putative determinants in first-episode schizophrenia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-four patients, mean age 24.7 years, participated in the study. The patients were assessed 1 month following the first hospitalisation (Time 1), 12 months later (Time 2), and 4-6 years after Time 1 (Time 3). The Social Functioning Scale and World Health Organisation Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) were applied to evaluate objective and subjective QoL, respectively. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale was used to examine psychopathological status, and the Global Assessment Scale was applied to evaluate social adjustment prior to hospitalisation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The objective and subjective QoL was relatively low at Time 1. Over time, the objective QoL improved in three domains, decreased in one domain, and remained stable in three domains. The subjective QoL did not change. The most important predictors of both dimensions of QoL were psychopathology and duration of untreated psychosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Because psychopathology seems to have the greatest impact on the QoL, there is a need to develop community psychosocial treatment to reduce these symptoms and to support patients in the early phase of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological and Psychiatric Nursing, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Smoluchowskiego 11, 60-179 Poznan, Poland. kgorna8@poczta.onet.pl
authors.forename: Krystyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Górna
authors.forename: Krystyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jaracz
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rybakowski
authors.forename: Janusz
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rybakowski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011044:Poland; D011788:Quality of Life; D012559:Schizophrenia