Current status of quality of life assessment in schizophrenic patients.

Though the need to evaluate the quality of life of schizophrenic patients is well recognized, there are significant issues that remain unsolved. Are these patients capable of judging their own quality of life or does their illness invalidate their responses? Are there any psychometrically valid instruments that enable us to assess quality of life in these patients? When should quality of life be assessed in schizophrenics? While the ERIQA European Group completes their work and provide us with some common guidelines concerning quality of life assessment in medicine, this article provides some simple action guidelines regarding these questions. These guidelines are the result of analyzing the most up-to-date literature in the field. It also takes a brief look at the most universally used tools.