Quality of life and mental health in Chinese culture.
OBJECTIVE
Quality of life (QOL) has become a standard outcome measure in psychiatry. The QOL concept is culture-dependent, which means that the results of Western studies may not be applicable to Chinese patients. The aim of this study is to summarize the recent literature on QOL and mental health in Chinese culture.


RESULTS
QOL has increasingly been used as an outcome measure of pharmacotherapeutic or psychosocial interventions in Chinese societies. Recent studies have suggested that socio-cultural factors exert an influence on the QOL of Chinese psychiatric patients. Patients with major psychiatric disorders have a poorer QOL than the general population. Socio-demographic characteristics have no, or only weak, associations with QOL in schizophrenia, whereas novel antipsychotics and antidepressants improve QOL relative to traditional psychotropic medications in the short term.


CONCLUSIONS
The inclusion of QOL measures in routine clinical practice and research in Chinese societies should be encouraged, and culture-sensitive QOL measures should be developed. Chinese psychiatry should also implement appropriate strategies and effective measures in line with the findings on the relationship between QOL and socio-demographic and clinical factors.
Xiang
Yu-Tao
YT
Department of Psychiatry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. xyutly@cuhk.edu.hk
Chiu
Helen F K
HF
Ungvari
Gabor S
GS
D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D002681:China; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008603:Mental Health; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*