DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2013.v01i06.0096

Pages: 1105-1111

Background: Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder characterized by three broad categories of symptoms: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and cognitive symptoms. Quality of life (QoL) is defined by the World Health Organization as “Individuals' perceptions of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live, and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards, and concerns.” Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive epidemiological, non-interventional, study single center, cross sectional, observational study. The study was conducted at Department of Psychiatry, Tertiary care Teaching Hospital with inpatient units, outpatient clinics, and specialty psychiatric rehabilitation services. Thirty-five consecutive outpatients with schizophrenia attending the hospital fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited for this study. Result: The mean duration of illness was 6.32 years for schizophrenics and the duration of treatment was 6.10 years. On comparing the domain raw score, the mean physical and psychological domain raw scores for Schizophrenia were 21.24±5.16 and 17.32±2.97, respectively, while among the controls these were 24.36±2.89 and 21.37±1.95, respectively. The differences between them were statistically significant. In the mean social domain raw score, there was a difference noted with a borderline significance (P = 0.0514) while the mean environment raw score was not significant. Conclusion: The deleterious effects of schizophrenia on QoL occur significantly. Management should be planned with this consideration to yield better outcomes.