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Ten-year quality of life outcomes among patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder II. Predictive value of psychosocial factors

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Abstract

Purpose

To identify psychosocial predictors of change in health-related quality of life among patients with schizophrenia (SZ) and schizoaffective (SA) disorders over a 10-year period.

Methods

In a naturalistic longitudinal design, 108 patients with SZ/SA disorders completed a comprehensive rating scale battery including self-reported quality of life, emotional distress symptoms, coping styles, sense of self-efficacy, and social support, as well as observer-rated psychopathology, medication side effects, and general functioning at 2 time points, baseline and 10 years later.

Results

Regression models revealed that reduction in self-reported symptoms of depression, sensitivity or anxiety along with increase in self-efficacy, social support, and emotion-oriented coping scores predicted improvement in domain-specific perceived quality of life. Adjustment of the psychosocial models for the effects of disorder-related factors (psychopathology, functioning, and medication side effects) confirmed the above findings and amplified their statistical power.

Conclusions

In the long-term course of severe mental disorders (SZ/SA), changes in the psychosocial factors are stronger predictors of subjective quality of life outcome than disorder-related changes. The findings enable better understanding of the combined effects of psychopathology and psychosocial factors on quality of life outcome over a 10-year period.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. A.M. Ponizovsky was supported by the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. The authors thank the clinical staff of Sha’ar Menashe Mental Health Center, particularly Drs. O. Rivkin, E. Shinkarenko, I. Timisky, Y. Ratner, A. Gibel, H. Farkash, G. Perelroyzen, and Mrs R. Kurs for their valuable participation in conducting previous stages of this project.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Michael S. Ritsner

  2. Acute Department, Sha’ar Menashe Mental Health Center, Mobile Post Hefer, 38814, Hadera, Israel

    Michael S. Ritsner, Marina Arbitman & Alexander Lisker

  3. Mental Health Services, Ministry of Health, Jerusalem, Israel

    Alexander M. Ponizovsky

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  1. Michael S. Ritsner
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  2. Marina Arbitman
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  3. Alexander Lisker
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  4. Alexander M. Ponizovsky
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Correspondence to Michael S. Ritsner.

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Ritsner, M.S., Arbitman, M., Lisker, A. et al. Ten-year quality of life outcomes among patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder II. Predictive value of psychosocial factors. Qual Life Res 21, 1075–1084 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-011-0015-4

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