Quality of life in mental health services

Abstract

This chapter describes the nature of current community mental health services and the concept of Quality of Life (QOL) as it relates to them. It also provides an understanding of the nature, scale and content of the current evidence base for QOL research in mental health service settings. A search strategy for isolating the most relevant sources and types of published material is included, and the best quality evidence relating to the QOL of people in receipt of community mental health care is reviewed. Finally, QOL measurement and outcomes for people with severe mental illnesses (SMI) in receipt of community based care are compared with those for people with more common mental disorders (CMD) such as anxiety and depression, and mentally healthy general population groups, to provide a broad understanding of the impact of illness on life-quality © 2007 springer.