Relationships between demographic variables and quality of life in a population of Dutch adult psychiatric outpatients

Background Examinations of the role of demographic characteristics in quality of life (QOL) in psychiatric samples are not new. However, serious limitations of previous research have been that (1) QOL was not assessed according to current recommendations, (2) assessment of QOL was often hampered by a substantial overlap in content between symptoms and QOL measures, and (3) the majority of the study samples had quite specific characteristics hampering the generalizability of results, as a result of which clinical implications of the results remained unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate explicitly the relationships between demographics and QOL in a sample reflecting the general population of psychiatric outpatients, QOL being assessed in a comprehensive, culturally sensitive, and subjective way, paying attention to the relative importance of its various facets. The main hypothesis was that these relationships would be rather weak. Method From a population of 533 adult Dutch psychiatric outpatients, 495 participants completed the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-Bref for assessing QOL. Furthermore, several demographic characteristics were recorded. Results Statistically significant correlations were found between partner relationship, habitual status, work, and sick leave and the WHOQOL-Bref domains social relationships and environment. Psychological health was associated to partner relationship, educational level, and sick leave. The total amount of QOL variance explained by demographics was rather low. Conclusion Amongst factors determining QOL, demographic characteristics are relatively unimportant. Therefore, paying attention to demographics during psychiatric treatment will probably have little effect on improvement of QOL