title: Quality of life in a 20-year follow-up study of people suffering from schizophrenia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  1. To assess the changes in quality of life indicators in schizophrenia sufferers at three measurement points: 7, 12 and 20 years after the first hospitalization. 2. To assess changes in the level of functioning and psychopathological state. 3. To assess the relationships between quality of life, the level of functioning and the severity of symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample group of fifty-two people diagnosed with schizophrenia was investigated using the Lehman's QOLQ, the GAF scale and BPRS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A deterioration was noted in the subjective and objective areas of family life and health, subjectively assessed social relationships and objectively assessed finances. The better functioning sub-group returned better scores for the following objective quality of life indicators: free time, family life, health, social relationships and financial situation. The sub-group in remission obtained better results for general, subjective quality of life and for subjectively assessed health, as well as better scores for objectively assessed free time, social relationships, financial situation and health. An improvement in general, subjective quality of life was seen in the sub-group whose symptoms had grown more severe.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The decline in subjective and objective quality of life in the areas of health and family life, in the subjective evaluation of social relationships and in the objective assessment of financial situation was associated with a deterioration in functioning and an absence of symptom remission. The improvement in general, subjective quality of life in the sub-group with severe symptoms may be evidence of the formation of adaptive mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Psychiatry, Chair of Psychiatry, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland.
authors.forename: Lukasz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cichocki
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Psychiatry, Chair of Psychiatry, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland.
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cechnicki
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Psychiatry, Chair of Psychiatry, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Franczyk-Glita
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Psychiatry, Chair of Psychiatry, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Błądziński
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Psychiatry, Chair of Psychiatry, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland.
authors.forename: Aneta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalisz
authors.affiliation: Association for the Development of Community Psychiatry and Care, Cracow, Poland.
authors.forename: Konrad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wroński
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004651:Employment; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior