Analyses of the Quality of Life among Patients with Schizophrenia
摘要
Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the factors influencing quality of life among patients with schizophrenia. Methods: We adopted the purposive sampling method to recruit 220 patients with schizophrenia from several district hospitals between September 2009 and March 2010. Patients' demographic data were obtained through structured questionnaires, including questionnaires for basic demographics, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the General Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire-Brief Taiwan Version (WHOQOL-BREF (TW). Results: The satisfaction level toward quality of life among these patients was moderate. Among the domains of quality of life, patients were more satisfied with physiological and environmental domains while less satisfied with mental and social relationship domains. Patients' quality of life differed significantly by employment status (p＜0.034) and income groups (p＜0.019). Compared to patients without a job, those with a full-time job had greater quality of life; patients with income had greater quality of life than those without it (p＜0.019). But marital status did not significantly influence one's quality of life. Conclusion: Efforts should be made to improve the employment status and income level among patients to enhance their quality of life.