title: Religion involvement and quality of life in patients with schizophrenia in Latin America.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between religion involvement (RI) and quality of life (QoL) in patients with schizophrenia from three countries in Latin America, while considering key confounding factors such as socio-demographic and clinical characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was conducted in the public mental health services in La Paz, Bolivia; Arica, Chile; and Tacna, Peru. The data collected included RI, socio-demographic information, clinical characteristics, type of treatment and QoL using the S-QoL 18 questionnaire. A multivariate analysis using multiple linear regressions was performed to determine variables associated with QoL levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred and fifty-three patients with schizophrenia were enrolled in our study. Significant positive associations were found between RI and QoL (the S-QoL 18 index: β = 0.13; p = 0.048; autonomy dimension: β = 0.15; p = 0.027). Other socio-cultural and economic factors were also associated with low QoL level: being a woman, older patient, low education level and being Aymara. Severity of the psychotic symptoms was associated to a lower QoL for all the dimension (β from 0.15 to 0.31), except for the resilience.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study found that socio-cultural and economic factors including RI were associated with QoL in patients with schizophrenia in Latin America, suggesting that these factors may influence positively health outcome. However, these relationships were moderate in strength, especially in comparison to symptoms severity which remained the most important features associated with QoL.
authors.affiliation: Escuela de Psicología y Filosofía, Universidad de Tarapacá, Avenida 18 de Septiembre 2222, Arica, Chile. acaqueo@uta.cl.|Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. acaqueo@uta.cl.
authors.forename: Alejandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caqueo-Urízar
authors.affiliation: Universidad Católica del Norte, Avda, Angamos 0610, Antofagasta, Chile.
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Urzúa
authors.affiliation: EA 3279-Public Health, Chronic Diseases and Quality of Life, Research Unit, Aix-Marseille Univ, 13005, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011788:Quality of Life; D012067:Religion; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Quality of life; Religion; Schizophrenia; Spirituality