Quality of life of schizophrenics who live in alternative residences in relation to their symptoms and illness type

Background

The purpose of this research was the study of the influences of the symptoms' (positive/negative) and illness's type (type I, II) in the quality of life of chronic schizophrenics who live in alternative residences, in the frame of the developing system of psychiatric care in Greece.

Material and Methods

50 patients (30 male, 20 female) who live in alternative residences (24 in group homes, 14 in board and care houses and 12 in supervised apartments) were examined. Their age ranged from 29 to 80 years and all the patients fulfilled the criteria a) of schizophrenia, according to ICD-10 and b) of chronicity. The patients were evaluated with the following scales: Satisfaction with Life Domains Scale (SLDS), PANSS and MMSE. Possible effects of positive, negative and general psychopathology symptoms were investigated, as well as possible effects of the illness's type in the satisfaction they get from their everyday life. Patients with neurodegenerative diseases and severe cognitive dysfunction were excluded from the study.

Results

According to the statistic analysis it was found that the patients' satisfaction from everyday life: a) correlates in a negative way with the positive syndrome (r = -0.315, p < 0.05) and the general psychopathology of PANSS scale (r = -0.373, p < 0.01), while it does not correlate with the scale of negative syndrome, the compound scale and the total scale of PANSS does not correlate with the illness's type.

Discussion

The satisfaction which chronic schizophrenics, who live in alternative residences, derive from their everyday life, in the frame of the developing system of psychiatric care in Greece, is correlated and influenced by the positive symptoms of the illness and those of general psychopathology, while it is not influenced by the type of their illness.