Abstract
We campared the quality of life among patients with mental disorders, their caregivers and general population using the 26-item short form of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-26). The WHOQOL-26 score was significantly lower in the patients with mental disorders as compared to their caregivers (p=0.021) and the general population (p<0.001); the values of the mean (±standard deviation) of WHOQOL-26 score in the respective groups were 3.00±0.54, 3.18±0.59 and 3.26±0.40. A significantly (p<0.001) negative correlation was observed between the score of the 12-item short form of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and WHOQOL-26 score in each of the three groups; the respective correlation coefficients were -0.681, -0.560 and -0.376 in the patients with mental disorders, their caregivers and the general population. Furthermore, the WHOQOL-26 scores in physical and psychological domains were both significantly (p<0.001) lower in the patients with mental disorders as compared to the caregivers or the general population. The caregiver group scored significantly (p<0.001) highest in the WHOQOL-26 social relationship domain, suggesting that they are satisfied with caregiving role or that they receive social support. No significant difference was observed among three groups regarding the WHOQOL-26 score in the environment domain.
