title: Individual quality of life of people with severe mental disorders.
abstract: People with mental disorders have been found to suffer from impaired quality of life (QoL). Therefore, the assessment of QoL has become important in psychiatric research. This explorative study was carried out in acute psychiatric wards. Thirty-five patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and related psychosis were interviewed. QoL was rated by the Schedule for Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life which is a respondent-generated QoL measure using semi-structured interview technique. Patients named five areas of life important to them and then rated their current status and placed relative weight on each QoL area. The data were analysed with qualitative content analysis and descriptive statistics. The most frequently named areas for QoL were health, family, leisure activities, work/study and social relationships, which represented 72% of all QoL areas named. Patients' average satisfaction with these QoL areas ranged 49.0-69.1 (scale 0-100). The mean global QoL score was 61.5 (standard deviation 17.4; range 24.6-89.6; scale 0-100). Awareness of patients' perceptions of their QoL areas can enhance our understanding of an individual patient's QoL and reveal unsatisfactory areas where QoL could be improved with individually tailored needs-based interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. anneli.pitkanen@utu.fi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pitkänen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hätönen
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kuosmanen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Välimäki
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007899:Leisure Activities / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult