Employment, Attitudes Toward Work, and Quality of Life Among People With Schizophrenia in Three Countries

Abstract

This study examines attitudes toward work, work incentives, and the impact of work on quality of life for people with schizophrenia, and investigates whether these findings differ among Western countries. We interviewed 24 randomly selected subjects with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder (12 employed and 12 unemployed) at each of three sites: Boulder, Colorado, United States; Berlin, Germany; and Berne, Switzerland. No significant differences were found in the subjects' attitudes toward work or subjective well-being, although Swiss patients had a higher cost-of-living-adjusted income. Unemployed subjects reported a lower subjective reservation (minimum financially worthwhile) wage than employed subjects in Berlin and Berne, whereas the reverse was true in Boulder. When subjects from all sites were combined, employed patients displayed less psychopathology and significant advantages in terms of objective and subjective measures of income and well-being: They were also more likely to stress the importance of work. The results suggest that work is associated with a markedly better quality of life for people with schizophrenia, but that disability pension programs in the United States might introduce work disincentives.

Work status, daily activities and quality of life among people with severe mental illness

“…Several studies have shown that those who have work report better satisfaction with their life quality than those who are without [1,[12][13][14][15][16][17]. This result is consistent also when controlling for different clinical characteristics, such as diagnosis, psychopathology and history of illness [16].…”

Avaliação da qualidade de vida e percepção de mudança em pacientes com esquizofrenia

“…Outros estudos também encontraram que a variável "trabalho" estava associada a uma melhor QV 14,18,32,33 . Com relação às outras duas variáveis, uma possível explicação para o resultado encontrado é que os pacientes que têm autonomia para tomar sua medicação e que fazem uso apenas de medicação oral provavelmente apresentam um quadro clínico menos grave e aderem melhor ao tratamento, explicando o resultado de QV.…”

Fatores associados à qualidade de vida de pacientes com esquizofrenia

“…27 Priebe et al constataram que, para a maior parte dos esquizofrênicos, as alternativas de trabalhos disponíveis são descritas como exigentes e estressantes. 38 Esses aspectos podem justificar a ausência de associação encontrada por alguns estudos.…”