Review article

CRITICAL REVIEW OF STUDIES ON QUALITY OF LIFE IN PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS PUBLISHED IN SERBIAN MEDICAL JOURNALS FROM 2000 TO 2009

Miroslava Jašović-Gašić ; Clinic of Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
Maja Lačković ; Clinic of Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
Bojana Dunjić-Kostić ; Clinic of Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
Maja M. Pantović ; Clinic of Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
Tijana Cvetić ; Clinic of Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
Aleksandar Damjanović ; Clinic of Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
Olivera Vuković ; Clinic of Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
Jovana Čeković ; Clinic of Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
Aleksandar A. Jovanović ; Clinic of Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is known to be indicative of the level of social functioning in mental health patients. However,
the research on QoL, in the field of psychiatry, is not as comprehensive as it is in other domains of medicine. The aim of this study
was to review the research evidence on QoL in psychiatric patients, published in Serbian medical journals during the last decade.
Material and methods: The research data from studies on quality of life in psychiatric patients, published in Serbian medical
journals from 2000 to 2009, were obtained by searching the databases Kobson and Medline.
Results: We found eight studies on QoL in psychiatric patients published in Serbian medical journals from 2000 to 2009. The
reviewed articles were focused on the comparison of QoL between psychiatric patients and healthy controls, or somatic patients, the
research on the relationship of QoL and general psychopathology, and the research on QoL and medical treatment.
Conclusions: QoL in patients suffering from mental disorders, as the outcome variable, is of a paramount interest in the followup
treatment studies in psychiatry targeting critical issues of mental illness management strategies. QoL of psychiatric patients in
Serbia is still under-researched, and it would be important to measure QoL from both a patient’s and observer’s (i.e. family
members, friends, nursing staff, mental health professionals, etc.) perspective, in the context of social, economic, and cultural
background of the patient. In the future, the studies on QoL in psychiatric patients in Serbia should also rely on “disease specific”
assessment scales, which would consider particular aspects of psychopathology, and eventually follow up longitudinal course of
mental illness, treatment outcome, and recovery.

Keywords

quality of life; psychiatric disorders; psychosis; depression

Hrčak ID:

76368

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/76368

Publication date:

8.12.2010.

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