Comparing quality of life between schizophrenics, family members, and others

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of life between persons with schizophrenia, their families and the general population. The subjects were 124 persons with schizophrenia living in the community and receiving day care, 315 families and 172 general population working at a corporation. The investigation was carried out using the shortened version of the World Health Organization (WHO)/QOL basic questionnaire (WHO/QOL-26). First, a construct validity of samples (n=577) was examined. Second, the QOL scores of the three groups were examined using ANOVA. Results showed that the QOL scores for schizophrenics were significantly lower in the physical and social domains than those for the other two groups. Persons with schizophrenia showed a significantly higher QOL for "Health and Social Care : accessibility and quality," and a significantly lower QOL for both "Dependence on Medical Substances and Treatments" and for "Sexual Activity". Discussion of schizophrenia was held from the point of view of normalization.