Quality of life, gender and schizophrenia: a cross-national survey in Canada, Cuba, and U.S.A.

Although gender differences in schizophrenic symptom expression have been widely established, no systematic studies have documented if these differences extend to the perception of quality of life. This survey gathered international data on the perception of quality of life among 102 outpatient men and women with schizophrenia from Canada, Cuba, and the United States. Using portions of Lehman's Quality of Life Interview, quality of life was assessed on the domains of social relationships, health, living situation, leisure, finances and general quality of life. Gender differences were tested with ANOVA where site was treated as a nested variable and separate t-tests comparing men and women within each country. Although no differences were found for the combined sample, differences were observed between men and women in Canada and Cuba on the social relationship domain. In Canada, women with schizophrenia reported a higher quality of life for social relationships. In contrast, Cuban men with schizophrenia reported higher quality of life for social relationships than Cuban women. Findings from the three sites show no differences for the other domains. With the possible exception of social relationships, these findings suggest no discernable differences in the perception of quality of life for men and women with schizophrenia. Overall, men and women with schizophrenia were only somewhat satisfied with some aspects of life. These findings have implications for developing comprehensive community care that includes quality of life promotion.