Quality of Life in Mentally Ill People

It is much easier to measure any of biological parameters than to describe any of them. Medical science is more „evidence based“ when can be expressed by parameters represented by amount of numbers describing functions in a body. Unfortunately, thanks to statistical approach to the medical science, philosophical or psychological dimensions disappear when considering the human life and its pathologies. Quality of life seems to be a good example of controversy seen in medical science of nowadays. On one hand, quality of life in medicine seems to be too vague to be defined by conventional, measuring loving approach, and in this way it is postponed just as an additional parameter standing in a rest, on the other hand, quality of life represents integral feature which refers to complex evalutation of our therapy from patients point of view.


Introduction
It is much easier to measure any of biological parameters than to describe any of them.Medical science is more "evidence based" when can be expressed by parameters represented by amount of numbers describing functions in a body.Unfortunately, thanks to statistical approach to the medical science, philosophical or psychological dimensions disappear when considering the human life and its pathologies.Quality of life seems to be a good example of controversy seen in medical science of nowadays.On one hand, quality of life in medicine seems to be too vague to be defined by conventional, measuring loving approach, and in this way it is postponed just as an additional parameter standing in a rest, on the other hand, quality of life represents integral feature which refers to complex evalutation of our therapy from patients point of view.

Quality of life -evolution in understanding the term
It is troublesome to define what is the quality of life.Everyone has individual and unique experience with every day life bringing both positive and negative aspects.Our evaluation of (our) quality of life is surely influenced by many individual aspects that can refer only to our experience.But can we generalize this individual experience to experience of the others?If so, what is relevant and what is irrelevant in evaluating one´s life from external or expert position?Althought many difficulties, scientists tried to develop more precised concepts of understanding quality of life.These concepts have been influenced by evolution in understanding other important terms, such as health, disease and determinants of health.The modern concept of the quality of life has been developed for more than 90 years.Soon after World War II, mainly material and economic conditions were considered to have an influence on the perceived quality of life.At that time, employment and good living conditions were the main prerequisite for having a good quality of life.Later, with the development of medicine and the society, new factors influencing the quality of life emerged, such as social, political, psychological, environmental and spiritual aspects, accompanied by the concept of new lifestyle demands.In the 21st century, medicine (and psychiatry as well) is facing new challenges, different from those in previous centuries.The prevalence of non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, musculoskeletal disorders and other conditions, reached the level of new pandemics replacing the earlier pandemics of infectious disease (tuberculosis, poliomyelitis etc.), having both economic and ethical impacts.Demographic changes in the population have postponed morbidity to an older age as people live longer now.This is related to comorbidities in the elderly, growing in number and exceeding the population of children and adolescents.Generally, the economic and social impacts of this demographic shift are expected to occur in most of the developed world.The shifts in morbidity and mortality are well observed and recognized, with people dying at an older age and with more diseases.The most common cause of death are cardiovascular diseases followed by cancer.This situation is in the Czech Republic, too.As many of these conditions cannot be cured completely, they considerably influence the health-related quality of life the elderly patients.An approach to treatment with respect to the biopsychosocial concept of a human being may be an important way to improve the quality of life of the elderly and dying patients.

Human and human´s needs
Historically, the oldest concept was based on identifying first parameters of human satisfaction -human needs.First, material conditions were taken into account -living in poverty implied low quality of life and vice versa.This idea was close to policy makers who were interested in social and material indicators of well being.Later, other conditions were studied -material, social, cultural, psychological and spiritual ones.The most complexed theory of human needs was presented by american psychologist Abraham Maslow.Maslow has ranged human needs into hierarchy according to their importace.First of importace are basic (or physiological) needs -they allow us to surviveand they are the first essential step to achieve higher, more developped needs.When these lower needs were fulfilled then it was an elementary precondition for a man to be satisfiedno shortcoming in considered need limited expected satisfaction.Graphically, hierarchy of human needs is represented as a pyramid where the more basic needs are situated at the bottom.(see fig.Theory of human needs seemed to be essential when considering quality of life.It showed people need more than good functionning of all body systems -they need feel to live in safety, to be accepted by a community of other people, to feel good self-esteem, to have individual perspective reflecting one´s wishes and dreams.Later then, medical point of view has been accompanied by psychological, spiritual, social and spiritual dimensions intersecting in one term -quality of life.Despite diversity in some of aspects mentionned above, simplified concept of health related quality of life showed its importance.Health related concepts of quality of life seemed to be much better understood and much better accepted by health care professionals, especially when evaluating outcomes of therapy or any other intervention, with special attention to therapy which seems to be is expensive or troublesome (typically in oncology or intensive care).The Karnofsky Performance Scale (measured by the decimal Karnofsky score, where 100% represents ideal or perfect health status and 0% represents death, see fig.2)isused in oncology to evaluate patient´s fitness before starting and during oncological treatment, or the APACHE II.evaluation system (Acute Physiological and Chronic Health Evaluation Systém, with total score from 0 to 71, where higher score means more serious condition with h ig he r r i s k o f d ea t h) u s e d t o e v a lu a te patient´s fitness in intensive care could be good examples.(see fig. 3) 100% -normal, no complaints, no signs of disease 90% -capable of normal activity, few symptoms or signs of disease 80% -normal activity with some difficulty, some symptoms or signs 70% -caring for self, not capable of normal activity or work 60% -requiring some help, can take care of most personal requirements 50% -requires help often, requires frequent medical care 40% -disabled, requires special care and help 30% -severely disabled, hospital admission indicated but no risk of death 20% -very ill, urgently requiring admission, requires supportive measures or treatment 10% -moribund, rapidly progressive fatal disease processes 0% -death White Blood Count 4.
Level of oxygenation 11.
History of severe organ insufficiency 14.
Glasgow Coma Scale score Fig. 3.The APACHE II.evaluation system -issues (calculator for obtaining the total score is needed)

Multidimensional concept of quality of life -more than just medical approach
Multidimensional concepts are the most developped and the most complexed concepts dealing with quality of life.These concepts combine traditional material and health-related approach with further dimensions, such as spirituality, self esteem, well-being, autonomy and competences, or acceptance by community and usefullness of an individual in community.They reflect global fitness of an individual when living in everyday society.Thence, ecclectical approach is typical in multidimensional concepts of quality of life.WHO Model of quality of life could be an example of such koncept (see chapter bellow).Despite its intended complexity, they cant define entirely what quality of life is in general.Any interpretation of one´s quality of life or any comparison of quality of life among individuals will cause methodological difficulties.

How to evaluate quality of life?
As mentionned above, quality of life is a complex category comprising many aspects: physical and mental condition, social networks, and environmental, educational, economic and cultural aspects of an individual.The quality of life is highly subjective and its evaluation is problematic.It can be evaluated on different levels -individual level, group level (e.g. group of patients with a disease) or population level.Two different methodological approaches can be used -qualitative and quantitative approach.

Qualitative approach in research of quality of life
Qualitative approach in research of quality of life requires more intense contact with individuals evaluating quality of life.This approach seems to be less exact for further statistical analysis because of using less standardized procedures even though it can reveal many important, individually specific aspects of quality of life.
The most common techniques of qualitative research of quality of life are inspection, interview, focus groups, content analysis of texts or documents.

Quantitative approach in research of quality of life
Quantitative approach in research of quality of life refers to measuring different aspects and parameters of quality of life.It uses more standardized procedures which can be perceived as more exact and more accessible to statistical analysis of data.Neverthless, t here is a risk of neglecting some of individually specific aspects of quality of life and thence of misleadings.
When studying the quality of life, questionnaires are most frequently used.Nowadays, there are hundreds of questionnaires available that can be found in the ProQolid database of psychometric instruments.This database comprises, among others, tools for assessing the quality of life, divided according to the research aim into generic instruments (used for the whole populations, both healthy and ill), disease-specific instruments (related to certain diseases, such as HIV or cancer) and target-population instruments (related to target populations, such as children or senior citizens).

WHO model of quality of life
The WHO has been trying to define and evaluate the quality of life since its first definition of health in 1946.From that time on, health-related aspects of the quality of life have prevailed.For its assessment, numerous methodological tools were developed: the performance status, APACHE scoring system, quality of life indices (with the Karnofsky score being the best known), self-rated quality of life scales, quality of life questionnaires (with the EuroQol, SQUALA or WHOQOL questionnaires being the most widely used), individual interviews or focus groups.Any of the above-mentioned tools for measuring the quality of life can be used at different levels: an individual level -evaluating the quality of life in individuals, a group level -assessing the quality of life in groups of patients or people, and a population level -measuring the quality of life in populations of patients suffering from certain diseases or undergoing some therapeutic modalities.
The WHO model of the quality of life and WHO questionnaires are highly appreciated for their complex and practical approach to the quality of life.The WHO model describes the quality of life as a very heterogeneous, specific, individual and sophisticated category which can only be understood in its complexity.The WHO formed working groups for developing psychometric instruments measuring the quality of life and this painstaking research and work aimed at designing questionnaires lasted for more than 15 years before these could be used in practice.
The WHO questionnaires have good psychometric characteristics and are highly recommended for research into the quality of life.
Traditionally, research into the quality of life has been the domain of somatic medicine (the quality of life in patients with HIV, cancer, rheumatological conditions, after transplantations or undergoing some therapeutic modalities).However, the first studies concerned with the quality of life in psychiatric patients, such as those with mood disorders or schizophrenia, have been carried out in many countries all over the world.Unfortunatelly, research into the quality of life of the elderly patients with psychiatric morbidity in institutional care is rare up to now.Some of the WHO Quality of life questionnaires are listed bellow:

Substance abuse disorders
Psychoactive substances attracted human attention from all times through history.Prevalence of experience with psychoactive substance in general adult population ranges from 25% of population as for smoking to 90% of population as for experience with drinking alcohol.33% of population has lifetime experience of at least one illegal drug (Semple et al, 2005).Abuse disorders cause many of social, economic and health related problemsunemployment, homelessness, divorces and high rate of criminality are on top of the problems.Researchers showed significantly worse quality of life of patients with substance abuse disorders compared to healthy control groups.On contrary, treatment of substance abuse disorders improved level of social functionning of addicted patients with secondary increase in perceived quality of life of these patients.Social and psychological conditions influencing quality of life in substance addicted patients were studied by Czech researcher Donkova (Donkova, 2009).

Schizophrenias
Schizophrenia is severe long-lasting psychiatric disorder changing thinking, perception or altering behaviour towards the others in acute phase of this disorder, in chronic phase of disorder, self-esteem, self-confidence, functionning in community or autonomy is usually altered too.Treating schizophrenia usually requires life-long adherence in therapy, what cause problems and leads to relapse of a disease (Staring et al, 2009).Schizophrenia is typical psychiatric disorder which is stigmatizing an individua and worsening his or her positron in community.All aspects mentionned above are worsening quality of life in patients with schizophrenia (Chromy, 1995).

Affective disorders
Affective disorders include broad spectrum of disorders characterized by pathological mood.Depression is one of the most common conditions in this cathegory (unipolar, bipolar or recurrent type).Anhedonia is worsening quality of life of depressed patients, together with apathy, abulia and dyssomnia (Ay-Woan et al, 2006).Positive correlation between depressivity in seniors (measured by Geratric Depression Scale, GDS) and low quality of their lives was found by Luzny (Luzny, 2009) -see fig.10.In developped countries, the prevalence of this cluster of mental disorders in general population is about 8.9% (Semple et al, 2005).Althought these disorders, formely called neuroses, don´t alter seriously essential parts of human psyche, they affect satisfaction with life and lead to worsening of quality of life (low self-confidence, low self-esteem, feelings of exhaustion, feelings of worsening in labour and daily life activities).Beard et al. have studied health related quality of life across the anxiety disorders and have described such correlations (Beard et al, 2010).
Fig. 1.Maslow´s hierarchy of needs

Fig
Fig. 2. The Karnofsky Performance Scale

Fig. 5 .
Fig. 5. Disease-Specific Instruments -Examples (ProQolid Database) Instruments for targeted population are used for studying quality of life of specific population, such as children, adolescents, adult men, war veterans etc.They depict characteristic feature of such population.Some examples of instruments for targeted population in ProQolid database are attached bellow:

Fig. 8 .Fig. 9 .
Fig. 8. Correlation between decline in cognitive functions and lowered quality of life in seniors with dementi

Fig. 10 .4. 5
Fig. 10.Correlation between depressivity ald quality of life in seniors The most common techniques of quantitative research of quality of life are questionnaires, studying of medical records, statistical surveys, structurized inspection.Questionnaires of quality of life are a very popular tool -they are easy to be used in clinical practice, despite having limits (reduction of information, statistical trstiny of hypotheses, problems with generalization of results and interpretation of summarized results).
TM PLC Quality of Life Profile for the Chronically Ill PQoL Perceived Quality of Life scale QL-Index Spitzer's Quality of Life Index QALYs Quality Adjusted Life Years QLI Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index QLQ-E Quality of Life Questionnaire-Evans QLSI Quality of Life Systemic Inventory QODD Quality of Dying and Death QOLI Quality of Life Inventory ® QOLS Flanagan's Quality of Life Scale QUEST Quality of End-of-life care and Satisfaction with Treatment scale QWB Quality of Well Being scale QWB-SA Quality of Well-Being scale Self-Administered SAS-SR Social Adjustment Scale -Self Report SEIQoL Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life SF 12 SF-12 ® Health Survey and SF-12v2 TM Health Survey SF 36 SF-36 ® Health Survey and SF-36v2 TM Health Survey SQLP Subjective Quality of Life Profile SWED-QUAL Swedish Health-Related Quality of Life Survey TAAQoL TNO-AZL TNO-AZL Questionnaire for Adult's Health-related Quality of Life TACQoL TNO-AZL TNO AZL Children's Quality of Life TAPQoL TNO-AZL TNO-AZL Preschool children Quality of Life questionnaire TEAQV Tableau d'Evaluation Assistée de la Qualité de Vie QoL-AD Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease QUALID Quality of Life in Late-Stage Dementia Scale CBS Cornell-Brown Scale for Quality of Life in Dementia D-QoL Dementia Quality of Life Instrument DEMQoL Measurement of health-related quality of life for people with dementia QOLAS Quality of Life Assessment Schedule QLDS Quality of Life in Depression Scale SLQQ Sexual Life Quality Questionnaire ILSS Independent Living Skills Survey LQOLP Lancashire Quality of Life Profile QLQ/CEQ Quality of Life Questionnaire or Client Experiences Questionnaire QLS Quality of Life Scale ONYCHO Onychomycosis Quality of Life questionnaire APQLQ Angina Pectoris Quality of Life Questionnaire MILQ Multidimensional Index of Life Quality CHAL Quality of Life Questionnaire for Arterial hypertension MINICHAL Short form of Quality of Life Questionnaire for Arterial hypertension MacNew MacNew Heart Disease Health-related Quality of Life Questionnaire