Quality of life of people suffering from schizophrenia as assessed by residents of a residential home

Introduction. Quality of life is a term that has been appearing in recent years not only in every day language, but also in various scientific
fields, including medicine. Study into the quality of life constitutes a valuable source of information supplementing laboratory and diagnostic
data, particularly in relation to chronic diseases, dementia praecox, or schizophrenia, being undoubtedly one of them.

Aim of the study. The main target of the conducted study was examination of the quality of life level of persons suffering from schizophrenia
in the eyes of residents of a residential home.
Material and methods. The study was based on a diagnostic survey, with an interview as the research technique and an interview questionnaire
as the study tool. The questionnaire was based on the World Health Organization definition of the quality of life, as well as a questionnaire
prepared by the authors concerning patients’ opinion on perceptible satisfaction from the received nursing care. The study was
carried out in the Residential Home (RH) for persons with psychiatric disorders in Wadowice. The Home has 116 places for mentally ill
patients, 62 of which suffer from schizophrenia. The studied group consisted of 53 persons selected from all the residents. The study results
were analysed by use of the Student’s t-test.

Results and conclusions. The study has demonstrated that women living in the RH higher evaluate their quality of life than men. Additionally,
the analysis of the three areas chosen for the purpose of the study, i.e. a subjective evaluation of one’s health condition, satisfaction from
the received nursing care and overall satisfaction from the care, has proved that in all cases the average rating was higher in the case of
women than of men. This shows that women better assess their general health condition, quality of life in the RH and are more satisfied with
the nursing care. Women’s general satisfaction from the received care is also higher than that of men.
The performed statistical analysis did not reveal any significant connection between the evaluation of the quality of life and the time spent
in the RH. Similarly insignificant appeared to be a connection between a subjective evaluation of one’s health condition of the studied
population and the assessment of the quality of life. The study demonstrated that there is a significant connection between the quality of life
and satisfaction from the nursing care. Dividing the study group according to sex, it emerged that this connection concerns only the group
of studied women, but not men. A similar occurrence can be observed when studying a general satisfaction from the received care: the
higher general satisfaction from care, the higher assessment of the quality of life. This relation concerns the entire studied population as well
as the group of women. In the case of men, this correlation is statistically negligible.