Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of GHQ/QL-12 to assess the quality of life(QoL) in patients with schizophrenia. KmSWN-19 and GHQ/QL-12 were administered to 176 out-patients with schizophrenia. Also, their sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were investigated. First, factor analysis was conducted and then RMSEA and ECVI were calculated to identify the best model about factor structure of the scale. Furthermore, Rasch model which is one of the item response theories was used to verify the fit of items, persons, and number of categories. Finally, the stepwise multiple regression was conducted to assess which of sociodemographie and clinical characteristics contribute significantly to the prediction of the QoL. The results were as follows: First, in terms of RMSEA, the three-factor model showed close fit, and its expected cross-validity appeared appropriate. Second, the item and person responses were reliable and 4 categories(0, 1, 2, 3) were fitted. Finally, the satisfaction with medication, the disposable money, the compliance with medication, the administration frequency of medication predicted the QoL significantly and explained 23.3% of the variance of the QoL. These results suggest that GHQ/QL-12 is a valid scale to assess the QoL of patients with schizophrenia. In addition, It was discussed that due to a little amount of the variance explained by the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, the psychological characteristics such as personality, self-esteem, perception of social support that were not considered in this study might have the effects on the QoL.