Relationships between Social Functioning and Quality of Life in a Population of Dutch Adult Psychiatric Outpatients

• Published in: International journal of social psychiatry 2007-01, Vol.53 (1), p.36-47
• Main Authors: Trompenaars, F. J., Masthoff, E. D., Van Heck, G. L., de Vries, J., Hodiamont, P. P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living - psychology; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; Biological and medical sciences; Classification; Community Mental Health Services; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Evaluation; Female; Health care; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mental Disorders - therapy; Mental health; Mental Hospitals; Mental illness; Mental Patients; Mentally ill people; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Netherlands; Outpatients; Personality Assessment; Personality Inventory; Program evaluation; Psychiatric disorders; Psychiatric hospitals; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Quality of Life; Quality of Life - psychology; Questionnaires; Role; Self Care - psychology; Social Adjustment; Social Behavior; Social Environment; Social functioning; Social psychiatry; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 0020-7640; 1741-2854
• DOI: 10.1177/0020764006074281

Background: The relationship between social functioning and QOL in psychiatric patients has not been explicitly investigated before. Aims: To investigate the relationship between social functioning and QOL in a population of psychiatric outpatients (N = 410) with a broad spectrum of psychiatric disorders. Method: Social functioning was assessed with the Groningen Social Behavior Questionnaire-100 (GSBQ-100) and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. QOL was measured with the WHO Quality of Life Assessment Instrument (WHOQOL-100). Results: The study population experienced a wide range of problems concerning all aspects of social functioning. The numbers of problems were significantly higher compared with healthy controls and (partly) also compared with a norm group of psychiatric outpatients. Almost all scales of the GSBQ-100 were negatively correlated with all QOL aspects, whereas the GAF score correlated positively with all QOL aspects. In general, participants with problems on aspects of social functioning had lower QOL scores than those without such problems, even after a correction for the presence of psychopathology according to DSMIV classification. Conclusion: In addition to the presence of psychopathology, social functioning is significantly related to QOL. Therefore, it should be considered more systematically in psychiatric assessment, treatment and program evaluation.