Quality of life and place attachment among people with severe mental illness

Abstract

This study investigated the extent to which perceived physical and social-environment qualities of supported housing facilities (SHF) account for variations in the perceived quality of life of people with severe mental illness (SMI). Based on a user-centered approach, people with SMI (N = 72) appraised the environment of their SHF (N = 20). Moreover, it investigated whether place attachment played a role in the relationship established between the environment of SHF and users' quality of life. Perceived physical and social-environment qualities predicted quality of life. Together the two factors accounted for approximately 32% of quality of life variance. Furthermore, attachment to place mediated this relationship. Implications for future planning of psychologically supportive facilities for this vulnerable group in society are discussed.

Sense of place attitudes and quality of life outcomes among African residents in a multicultural Australian society

“…A growing amount of literature shows that sense of place (SOP) attitudes are associated with quality of life (QOL) outcomes (e.g., Brehm, Eisenhauer, & Krannich, ; Joaquim, João, & Pereira, ; Randell, Kitchen, & Williams, ). However, much of the literature has focused on rural and urban residents (e.g., Gattino, De Piccoli, Fassio, & Rollero, ; Tartaglia, 2013; Rollero and Piccoli, ), individuals with severe mental illness (e.g., Marcheschi, Laike, Brunt, Hansson, & Johansson, ), university students (e.g., Scannell & Gifford, ), and older adults (Afshar, Foroughan, Vedadhir, & Tabatabaei, ). Far less empirical research has been carried out to investigate cross‐cultural aspects of SOP attitudes in relation to outcomes of QOL, especially among migrant populations in the West such as the African diasporas.…”

“…Studies conducted by Kuller () and Marcheschi et al. () have shown that SOP affords a meaningful advantage that translates people–place experiences into set goals for negotiating QOL. This proposition is well documented in the human–environment interaction model (Kuller, ; Marcheschi et al., ).…”

Beyond Assessment of Quality of Life in Schizophrenia

“…One of the major aims of deinstitutionalization was to improve the quality of life of people living with severe mental illness (Marcheschi et al 2015 ). We have previously argued that in the context of mental health services QoL is best understood in terms of two dimensions (Holloway and Carson 2002 ).…”

“…The second is subjective assessment of QoL both overall (Global Subjective Quality of Life) and within particular life domains that include those readily measured 'objectively' and the person's perspective on their physical and mental health ( 3 in the Brazier typology). Subjective QoL is now widely used as an outcome measure in studies of specifi c treatments and service structures in mental health (Marcheschi et al 2015 ). All those using the construct of subjective QoL as applied to severe mental illness are following in the footsteps of groundbreaking work.…”

Travel Risks for Those With Serious Mental Illness

“…41 It is not unusual for an unfamiliar place to be perceived as hostile and threatening, especially if one is vulnerable to the misinterpretation of sensory perceptions. 34 Marcheschi et al 42 found that, in people with severe mental illness living in supported housing, perceived physical and social factors in their environments determined approximately one third of the variance in the quality of their lives. The loss of a habitual social or occupational role while traveling (even the often stigmatized role of psychiatric patient) can lead to a sense of rootlessness and lost identity, 43 which looms especially large for individuals with personal experience of psychosis.…”