The assessment of quality of life (QoL) in medical and psychiatric settings has gained increasing attention in recent years, thus leading to the development of many generic and specific instruments. A good knowledge of the theoretic models underpinning General Quality of Life (GRQOL) and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) may be useful to the clinician in the everyday administration of those instruments. Therefore, in this work we first outline the main QoL dimensions as they were described in three different theoretic models. Then, a few important issues in the development, choice and use of Quality of Life scales and questionnaires are discussed and several generic and specific instruments are described. We outline the main aspects of QoL in patients with common psychiatric disorders such as Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Schizophrenia and Eating Disorders; for each and every disease we propose a few scales that are best suited to evaluate both General and Health Related Quality of Life. Although many instruments are available, we find that further research is needed to develop standardized questionnaires and to outline valid guidelines for the assessment of QoL in psychiatry.
Category: No 1 - March - 2011
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