HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN OLDER PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA AND OTHER PSYCHOSES - RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PSYCHOSOCIAL AND PSYCHIATRIC FACTORS

Objective. Few multivariate studies relating psychosocial factors to s ymptoms of psychosis among older patients exist. We assessed environme ntal stressors, satisfaction with emotional support, coping responses and psychiatric symptoms, and sought to relate these factors to qualit y of well-being among older patients with schizophrenia and other psyc hoses. Method. Subjects were 70 psychosis patients with a mean age of 58. Predictors included measures of stressors (number of negative life events), satisfaction with emotional support, coping responses, posit ive and negative symptoms, depressive symptoms, social adjustment and a general quality of well-being (QWB) score. Results. A conceptual mod el was tested and modified using path analytic techniques. Preliminary analyses suggested that psychosocial environment (life events, coping and emotional support) was primarily a product of psychiatric symptom s. Therefore, psychiatric symptoms preceded psychosocial environment v ariables in the proposed model. Further results suggested that depress ion mediated all of the effects of psychotic symptoms on social maladj ustment, but not all of their effects on well-being, Conclusions. In o lder patients with schizophrenia and other psychoses, health-related q uality of well-being is influenced by symptoms of psychoses, psychosoc ial factors and social maladjustment, (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, L td.