J. P. J. Oliver

Measuring the quality of life of severely mentally ill people using the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile

Quality of life (QOL) has become an important outcome measure for many disorders, including mental illness. The Lancashire Quality of Life Profile (LQOLP) was developed for use in operational contexts, and has been translated into several languages. It is in use in several European and North American community psychiatric services. The present paper addresses the questions: how easy is it to use?; how reliable is it?; do the results of the LQOLP vary by setting in a meaningful way?; how do the results co-vary with measures of clinical symptoms and social functioning?; how well does it measure change?; is it clinically useful? While most of the answers to these questions are favourable, there is a need for further research and development of the profile, in particular with reference to the consequences of the use of the profile as a routine monitoring instrument and the most appropriate form of statistical analysis in longitudinal data-sets.

Does Quality of Life Differ in Schizophrenic Women and Men? An Empirical Study

In our study of 617 schizophrenic patients, we tested the hypothesis that women have a better objective and subjective quality of life than men. Better social integration of women was confirmed. Objective conditions had a significant but quantitatively small impact on satisfaction with specific life domains. Better social integration did not, however, lead to more satisfaction among schizophrenic women. Satisfaction with life in general was better predicted by satisfaction in different life domains than by objective circumstances. Predictors of satisfaction with life were not equal for both sexes. Rather than confirming quantitative differences in subjective quality of life, our data support the existence of gender- specific processes and contexts of subjective valuation.

Measuring Quality of Life in Secure Care: Comparison of Mentally Ill and Personality Disordered Patients

Improving quality of life for patients is emerging as a legitimate goal for UK inpatient forensic mental health services. The Lancashire Quality of Life Profile (LQOLP), which has been used widely to measure well-being in community settings, was trialed on an inpatient population being cared for under conditions of high security. Two groups of male patients, drawn from within the same institution but with markedly different clinical conditions, i.e. schizophrenia (N = 47) and personality disorder (N=48), were interviewed using the LQOLP. Although both groups had been cared for under largely similar environmental conditions over similar lengths of time (9.5 years), the subjective global well-being of the two groups differed systematically as did other objective and subjective well-being measures. However, analysis found that the variations in global well-being could not be attributed readily to factors covered by the interview, including either current mood or personality. Possible reasons for these findings and implications for the use of the LQOLP under conditions of high security are discussed.

Mental health policy in practice: lessons from the All Wales Strategy Mental Illness.

The ultimate objective of the All Wales Strategy - Mental Illness, is to produce a community based mental health service led by multidisciplinary community mental health teams. This paper is based upon a report commissioned by the Welsh Office Social Services Inspectorate based upon a review of progress in the implemen tation of the strategy through scrutiny of County Joint Plans and meetings with County Joint Planning Teams. In general, we found that community multidisciplinary teamwork was not well developed throughout Wales. Insufficient attention was being paid to issues of staff development and the capacity to monitor and evaluate service developments. The need for a baseline assessment of current performance by health and social services authorities seemed inescapable, if the impact of the strategy is to be reliably and validly assessed.

Quantifying creative encounters: The bumpy road to evaluating psychodynamic training

Abstract Four years of a one year, part-time, CCETSW-approved, post-qualifying course in psychodynamic approaches to practice were evaluated by the authors. Both course effectiveness and student learning were assessed, using a variety of measures, including (years 1 & 2) student diaries, multiple choice examinations, meetings with line managers and (years 3 & 4) repeated questionnaires on confidence (students) and skill (tutors), termly feed-back from students, and end-of-year tutor and self-reports. Dissertations were required from year 2 onwards. Objective tests of knowledge showed good evidence of new learning, although the later confidence/skill questionnaire was preferred, by students, to the multiple choice examinations used in the first two years. In the absence of actual practice-based measures of performance, the relative merit of each approach remains uncertain. The development of the course itself was enhanced by the use of external evaluators. Awkward or vague measures (diaries, meetings with ...