| Author: | Lee, Chun-kwong |
| Title: | Quality of life in chronic psychiatric day-hospital patients in Hong Kong |
| Degree: | M.Sc. |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Subject: | Mentally ill -- Care -- China -- Hong Kong Quality of life Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Multi-disciplinary Studies |
| Pages: | xiii, 145 p. ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | This study explored the construct of quality of life (QOL) of chronic psychiatric day-hospital patients in Hong Kong. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 day-hospital patients and 10 health professionals to capture their perception of the concepts of QOL. All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. Content analysis revealed a total of 27 dimensions attributing to the construct of QOL. A questionnaire was then constructed to evaluate the relative importance of each dimension. Forty-seven day hospital patients and forty-five care professionals were recruited from 5 psychiatric day-hospitals for the evaluation. There were 18 dimensions rated high by either group of subjects which indicated their relevance and representativeness to the construct of QOL of psychiatric day-hospital patients in Hong Kong. The construct revealed were best matched by the construct as stipulated in the disease-specific Lancashire Quality of Life Profile (LQOLP) for psychiatric population and the generic World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL). They both covered 18 out of 27 dimensions. Six and three dimensions highly rated as important in the present study were not covered in the LQOLP and WHOQOL respectively. For LQOLP, they were "sleep and rest", "material condition", "daily routine", "opportunities for improvement", "personal goals", and "energy for daily tasks". For WHOQOL, they were "daily routine", "pressure", "personal goals". Although these uncovered dimensions were discussed as related to the traditional Chinese culture, characteristics of Hong Kong Chinese and sub-culture of chronic psychiatric patients, they were not unique to the local population because they were already covered in contents of other QOL instruments developed in western societies. Therefore, the results actually suggested some flaws in the existing instruments when applying to psychiatric day-hospital patients in Hong Kong rather than strong cultural variation. In comparing the frequency of occurrence and ranking of ratings, discrepancies were found between the two groups in their relative importance ranking of six dimensions. Dimensions rated higher by patients than by professionals were personal safety; personal goals; and energy. In contrast, dimensions rated higher by professional than by patients were living situation; leisure participation; perceptions, feelings and expectations about oneself. However, inferential statistics with adjusted Type I error revealed that only 2 out of 27 dimensions showed significant differences. The discrepant dimensions were "leisure participation" (p<.001) and "personal safety" (p<.001). This might be accounted for by the different perspectives and exposing environment of the patients and professionals. Although high degree of consistency was revealed from inferential statistics, the discrepancies identified in comparing the frequency of occurrence and ranking of ratings still alert care professionals to the possible areas of difference between their own more objective perspective and patients' subjective perspective. Actually, findings of this study facilitates the understanding of the perception of QOL for chronic psychiatric day-hospital patients in Hong Kong from patient and professional perspectives. It also established the theoretical foundation for the selection and development of QOL measure for this group of patients. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b14105536.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 4.31 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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