Quality of life measurement during antipsychotic drug therapy of schizophrenia.

The strategy for measuring quality of life and the choice of a rating scale should follow a rational scheme aimed at capturing the key components of quality of life of a specified clinical population. This is achieved through defining the purpose of the study, identifying the clinical population and its needs, developing a situation-specific quality of life model, and choosing a battery of psychometrically sound and user-friendly rating scales based on the model. Patients' self-reports and subjective feelings should be central to quality of life measurement, which should also monitor symptom severity, drug side effects, and psychosocial adjustment. This article describes the application of these principles in the context of antipsychotic drug therapy of schizophrenia and identifies potential problems that may arise from the conceptual, psychometric, clinical, and other feasibility issues. The highly subjective nature of the disorder, together with the poor insight, lack of motivation, and neurocognitive deficits of those who are afflicted, poses special difficulties for obtaining and interpreting patients' quality of life appraisals in schizophrenia.