Psychological well-being and quality of life of mentally disordered offenders with schizophrenia undergoing an involuntary inpatient treatment

Background

Psychological well-being (PWB) and quality of life (QL) are seen as indicators of the outcomes of treatment interventions. To investigate whether these measures could be applied to the field of forensic treatment we conducted a pilot study of PWB and QL of in-patient offenders with schizophrenia.

Methods

Three groups of subjects (a total sample of 130) participated in the controlled-designed study: offenders with schizophrenia receiving involuntary hospital-based psychiatric treatment, non-offenders with schizophrenia receiving hospital-based psychiatric treatment and healthy controls. The self-reported, questionnaire-based measures included Psychological Well-being Scales (Ryff, 1995), Shmukler's Scale of Quality of Life (1998) and scales of self-esteem. Objective data about social functioning was also collected. The clinical status of mentally ill was rated by psychiatrists using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale.

Results

Offenders with schizophrenia receiving hospital-based involuntary treatment had significantly higher scores on QL and PWB (as indicated by scales of positive relations with others, personal growth and purpose in life) when compared with all the other groups. Non-offenders with schizophrenia had significantly less satisfaction with their QL and revealed significantly less PWB than a sample from the general population and offenders. There was a significant association between the psychopathological factors and QL of patients with schizophrenia receiving involuntary hospital-based psychiatric treatment. Better clinical status was associated with worse QL.

Conclusion

Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying the self-reported level of psychological well-being and quality of life in mentally disordered offenders.