Quality of life of community-based chronic schizophrenia patients in Penang, Malaysia

OBJECTIVE: This is a study of the quality of life (QOL) of 174 community-based chronic schizophrenia patients in Penang, Malaysia. METHOD: The study samples were selected from the Out Patient Department, Department of Psychiatry, Penang General Hospital, Malaysia. The data was collected through personal interviews with the respondents. A questionnaire prepared by the research team was used to collect data on background characteristics. Lehman's (1988) Quality of Life Interview was used to collect data on patients' QOL. RESULT: Equal number of males and females participated in the study. The interviews on QOL indicated problems in the areas of life in general, place of living, daily activities, social relations, finance, work and general health. The results also revealed that community-based schizophrenia patients had acute poverty and experienced social isolation, discrimination and exploitation in the workplace. CONCLUSION: Implications of these results on the implementation process of National Mental Health Policy in Malaysia are discussed. The research paper also discusses the negative impacts of limited rehabilitation facilities available in the community and its implications on the QOL of severely mentally ill patients. The need for immediate research attention on QOL of such patients in the South-east Asian region has been highlighted.