Qualify of Life of Forensic Psychiatric Inpatients

Abstract

In this article, the quality of life (QoL) of mentally disordered offenders was investigated. The data of 44 forensic psychiatric inpatients were analyzed using the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile (LQoLP), Rehabilitation Evaluation Hall and Baker (REHAB), and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Outcome on the LQoLP was compared with data of hospitalized male psychiatric patients. Results show that the QoL of forensic psychiatric inpatients was particularly low as to their living conditions and their health. However, compared to general psychiatric patients they encountered fewer problems with envisioning their life as having some meaningful perspective. On six of the ten domains, nonpsychotic forensic psychiatric patients reported a lower, though nonsignificant, QoL as compared to the psychotic forensic psychiatric patients. Between psychopathic and nonpsychopathic forensic psychiatric patients no significant differences were found. A trend was found for the domain finances for which nonpsychopaths reported a lower quality of life. Our hypothesis that patients with a lower level of functioning will report a lower QoL was not confirmed in this study. However, a significant correlation between general behavior and global well-being was found. Future studies should further investigate the relation between quality of life of forensic psychiatric patients and recidivism, to gain more insight in whether (certain aspects of) QoL are associated with lower recidivism risks in the long run.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For his help in coordinating the data collection and conducting the interviews, we are very grateful to René Proost. During the data collection, data analysis, and global preparation of this article the authors worked at ‘De Kijvelanden’ Institute of Forensic Psychiatry, Poortugaal, The Netherlands.

Notes

1. On the REHAB, lower scores point to a better level of functioning of the patient and vice versa.