Abstract
Purpose
Intensive community-based care (ICBC) is a home-treatment approach aiming to support people ‘living in the community’ with severe psychiatric and addiction problems. Although subjective quality of life (SQOL) is an increasingly important outcome measure in health care, little is known on ICBC clients’ SQOL.
Methods
Clients of three ICBC teams (N = 523) participated in the study. Upon intake, clients filled out a SQOL measure and indicated whether they had a good friend, partner, and children, as well as their experiences with crime. Professional caregivers filled in a measure on problem severity.
Results
Regression was used to examine to what extent the included variables contributed to explaining variance in ICBC clients’ SQOL. Determinants in the model significantly predicted client SQOL and explained 37 % of the variance. ‘Symptomatology’ (depressive symptoms) and ‘social problems’ (living conditions) negatively influenced the SQOL, while having a partner, a good friend, and an overall lower problem severity positively influenced SQOL.
Conclusions
SQOL among ICBC clients is related to psychopathology, in contrast to previous knowledge. It is dependent upon symptom specificity, living conditions, and social circumstances and therefore presumably on program characteristics. This study provides insight into well-being among ICBC clients and is therefore relevant to involved healthcare professionals.
Intensive community-based care (ICBC) is a home-treatment approach aiming to support people ‘living in the community’ with severe psychiatric and addiction problems. Although subjective quality of life (SQOL) is an increasingly important outcome measure in health care, little is known on ICBC clients’ SQOL.
Methods
Clients of three ICBC teams (N = 523) participated in the study. Upon intake, clients filled out a SQOL measure and indicated whether they had a good friend, partner, and children, as well as their experiences with crime. Professional caregivers filled in a measure on problem severity.
Results
Regression was used to examine to what extent the included variables contributed to explaining variance in ICBC clients’ SQOL. Determinants in the model significantly predicted client SQOL and explained 37 % of the variance. ‘Symptomatology’ (depressive symptoms) and ‘social problems’ (living conditions) negatively influenced the SQOL, while having a partner, a good friend, and an overall lower problem severity positively influenced SQOL.
Conclusions
SQOL among ICBC clients is related to psychopathology, in contrast to previous knowledge. It is dependent upon symptom specificity, living conditions, and social circumstances and therefore presumably on program characteristics. This study provides insight into well-being among ICBC clients and is therefore relevant to involved healthcare professionals.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-8 |
| Journal | Quality of Life Research |
| Early online date | 30 Aug 2015 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Keywords
- Assertive community treatment
- Cross-sectional studies
- Epidemiologcal determinants
- Quality of life
- Social determinants of health