Does the place of treatment influence the quality of life of schizophrenics?

Abstract

Objective: Chronically mentally ill patients in community mental health care report a better quality of life (QOL) than those in long-term hospital care, which suggests that the treatment setting per se influences their QOL.

Method: In a region where both treatment settings are of a comparable high standard, we assessed the QOL of 96 schizophrenic patients from these two treatment settings, and the factors which most influenced their QOL.

Results: Community-care patients reported a better QOL than long-term hospital-care patients. However, when other factors influencing QOL were included in a regression analysis, the place of treatment was no longer significant, but rather the social support, the severity of the illness, educational level and certain illness concepts.

Conclusion: It is probably not the place per se which influences the QOL, but apart from personal, sociodemographic and illness-related factors, the amount of social support that is provided in different settings.