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Health-Related Quality of Life in Schizophrenia: Health Policy and Resource Allocation

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Beyond Assessment of Quality of Life in Schizophrenia

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Abstract

This chapter investigates the impact of the quality of life (QoL) construct on mental health policy and resource allocation, with a focus on the care and treatment of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or other functional psychoses. We review the many approaches that have been taken towards QoL and the impact of schizophrenia on the individual, family and society. The role of QoL in public policy in general and in particular the salience of specific measures of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is discussed. A brief analysis of recent mental health policy documents from seven Anglophone documents is presented – from which it is concluded that QoL is losing out to the rhetoric of ‘recovery’. We end with a discussion of the real-world drivers for resource allocation and the often tenuous link between policy and practice.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Cost-benefit analysis may be defined as a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project, decision or government policy.

  2. 2.

    Cost-effectiveness analysis is a form of economic analysis that compares the relative costs and outcomes of two or more courses of action.

  3. 3.

    The series ended in 2012 just as it became clear that mental health spending was decreasing in real terms.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Beckenham, UK

    Frank Holloway FRCPsych (Emeritus Consultant Psychiatrist)

  2. Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AZ, UK

    Frank Holloway FRCPsych (Emeritus Consultant Psychiatrist)

  3. School of Education and Psychology, University of Bolton, Bolton, BL3 5AB, UK

    Jerome Carson (Professor of Psychology)

Authors
  1. Frank Holloway FRCPsych
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  2. Jerome Carson
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Correspondence to Frank Holloway FRCPsych .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    A. George Awad

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

    Lakshmi N.P. Voruganti

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Holloway, F., Carson, J. (2016). Health-Related Quality of Life in Schizophrenia: Health Policy and Resource Allocation. In: Awad, A., Voruganti, L. (eds) Beyond Assessment of Quality of Life in Schizophrenia. Adis, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30061-0_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30061-0_13

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  • Publisher Name: Adis, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30059-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30061-0

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