Contribution of spirituality to quality of life in patients with residual schizophrenia

Abstract

There is increasing recognition that a person's spiritual or religious experiences contribute to quality of life (QOL). However, research exploring the relation between spirituality and QOL has mainly been in the context of chronic and life-threatening illnesses, and studies examining this important correlate of QOL in chronically mentally ill subjects are sparse. This study aimed to explore the relationship between spirituality and QOL, and to investigate if spirituality contributes to other domains of QOL (both physical and psycho-social) in subjects with residual schizophrenia. In a study with a cross-sectional design, 103 patients with residual schizophrenia were assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome scale, and their quality of life, spirituality and religiousness were assessed with the WHO Quality of Life-Spirituality, Religiousness and Personal Beliefs (WHOQOL-SRPB) scale. The SRPB domain and all its facets other than spiritual connection correlated significantly with all other domains of QOL and overall QOL. On regression analysis, the inner peace domain of spirituality explained 21.6 to 37.6% of variance of all QOL domains except the domain of level of independence. The spirituality domain explained 33.8% of the variance of the ‘level of independence domain of QOL. Taken together, inner peace and spirituality facets explained 23 to 40% of the variance of the social relationships domain, the psychological domain and the level of independence domain of QOL. This study suggests that spirituality and religiosity have an important influence on overall QOL of patients with schizophrenia. Hence, besides pharmacological and non-pharmacological management for schizophrenia, clinicians should focus on this aspect and encourage their patients to follow their religious practices and spiritual beliefs.