Ll. Nilsson et S. Levander, QUALITY-OF-LIFE AND SCHIZOPHRENIA - NO SUBJECTIVE DIFFERENCES AMONG 4LIVING-CONDITIONS, Nordic journal of psychiatry, 52(4), 1998, pp. 277-283
One hundred and fifty-two schizophrenic patients, aged 21-87 years and
living in 4 different kinds of habitats (mental hospital, group home,
treatment collective, and their own flats), were interviewed with the
Quality of Life Scale (QLS-100) and rated by means of the 24-item ver
sion of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). A discrepancy betwe
en a patient's QLS ratings and objective life circumstances (low QLS d
iscontent scores in spite of poor or appalling life conditions) was sc
ored as present or non-present (discrepancy score (DS)). In spite of b
eing conceptually 14-dimensional, the QLS data were highly homogeneous
(alpha = 0.93). Therefore, a QLS discontent sum score was computed. T
he difference in habitats did not influence QLS scores significantly,
even when corrected for age differences, nor did sex. Higher age, pres
ence of negative/disorganization symptoms, and absence of affective sy
mptoms were associated with lower QLS discontent scores and a high fre
quency of DS. These findings suggest that a substantial proportion of
schizophrenic patients are unable to judge their life quality by using
instruments such as the QLS-100, which in turn raises important metho
dologic and ethical issues on how to assess and improve psychotic pati
ents' quality of life, both perceived acid real.