Determinants of subjective quality of life in patients attending community-based mental health services. The South-Verona Outcome Project 5.

OBJECTIVE

Investigate the relationship of various domains of quality of life (QoL) with socio-demographics, clinical and social characteristics, service use and satisfaction in a representative sample of patients in contact with the South-Verona community mental health service.

METHOD

Measures included: Lancashire Quality of Life Profile (LQOLP), demographics, diagnosis and service utilization data from the Case Register, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Disability Assessment Schedule (DAS), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and Verona Service Satisfaction Scale (VSSS). Analyses were conducted using a block-stratified multiple regression model.

RESULTS

Demographics, diagnosis, psychopathology, disability, functioning and service use together explained different amounts of variance in each LQOLP domain, but always less than 14%. VSSS explained more variance than any other indicator in health (13.1%), social relations (12.1%), leisure/participation (9.1%), and general wellbeing (9.0%).

CONCLUSION

Different domains of QoL are predicted by different indicators. In some important domains, self-perceived satisfactory and effective care might have an impact on the QoL of patients.