Quality of life and its associated factors among patients with two common types of chronic mental illness living in Kaohsiung City

Abstract

Aim: This study explored the associations of personal, disease, family, and social factors with quality of life (QoL) in patients with two common types of chronic mental illness (CMI) living in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Methods: Using a convenience sample and a cross‐sectional design, 714 patients (50.1% male, 49.9% female) with CMI (72.1% schizophrenia and 27.9% affective disorder) and their caregivers were recruited. Demographic information was collected via the following questionnaires: 12‐Item Short‐Form Health Survey (SF‐12), five‐item Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS‐5), Caregiver Burden Scale, and Clinical Global Impressions (CGI‐S) Scale. Pearson correlations and hierarchical regression analyses were used to predict QoL. Results: Disease factors accounted for 17–50% of the change in variance. Predictors of low mental subscale scores included the following: high psychological distress and high family burden as well as a history of suicide attempts, negative caregiver attitudes, and living away from home. Disease factors also explained the greatest variance in the physical subscales. Predictors of low physical subscale scores included the following: high psychological distress, age, unemployment, a history of suicide attempts, high family burden, and living alone. Conclusions: Disease factors were the most important predictors of QoL in patients with CMI. Family factors were more important than social factors on the mental subscales. Differential relationships were also found for the other two dimensions. Together, these results indicate that a wide range of factors improve the QoL in patients with CMI.

Determinants of mental and physical health-related quality of life among patients hospitalized for suicidal behavior

“…These findings are consistent with previous work demonstrating higher levels of depression were associated with low levels of mental HRQoL among depressed patients (Wang et al, 2013). However, other studies fail to evidence an association between the severity of psychiatric symptoms, including, psychological distress, and HRQoL (Eack & Newhill, 2007;Huang et al, 2012). The current study describes a relation between hopelessness and mental HRQoL which is an extension of previous work given it examines hopelessness among suicidal patients with different psychiatric diagnoses and not only depression (Penner-Goeke et al, 2015).…”

Quality of Life in Patients With a Major Mental Disorder in Singapore

“…Lower Quality of Life (QoL) had been associated with major mental disorders, such as depression (5, 6) and schizophrenia (4, 7). Both mental disorders are of concern (8) to clinicians working in mental health services: Schizophrenia is the most common diagnosis among hospitalized psychiatric patients, and it is a chronic mental disorder with a debilitating course (9). Functional impairment is high, leading to lost wages and work impairment, with related personal, societal, and economic burdens (10, 11).…”

“…Domestic life, work, and interpersonal activities were the most affected functional domains in depression (17), with adverse outcomes in low education, marital disruption, unstable employment, risk of secondary disorders, and early mortality due to suicide (18); while interpersonal and affective problems were found consistently across countries, cross-national variations are noted in other domains. QoL is a culturally sensitive construct (8), and it should not be assumed that conclusions from Western studies could be generalized across to Asian populations. A recent study (8) examined the QoL of Taiwanese patients with chronic mental disorders, namely schizophrenia and affective disorders.…”

Family Environment, Internalized Stigma and Quality of Life in Patients with Schizophrenia

“…[14] Şizofreni ve duygudurum bozukluklarında yaşam kalitesini inceleyen bir çalışmada ruhsal sıkıntı, aile yükü, öz kıyım girişimi, olumsuz bakım verici tutumu ve evden uzakta yaşama gibi hastalık faktörlerinin yaşam kalitesinde en önemli belirleyiciler olduğu, ruhsal belirti düzeyinde aile etkenlerinin toplumsal etkenlerden daha önemli bulunduğu saptanmıştır. [15] Şizofreni tedavisinde temel amaç, belirtileri azaltma ve yinelemeleri önleme yoluyla hastanın iyileşmesini ve yaşam kalitesini yükseltmeyi sağlamaktır. [16] Hasta, aile ve tedavi ekibinin işbirliği içinde olması tedavinin etkinliğini artırmaktadır.…”