Are importance ratings useful in the assessment of subjective quality of life in schizophrenic patients?

Subjective quality of life (QOL) is predominantly measured as satisfaction in various life domains. However, this approach has often been criticized for not taking individual preferences into account. A combination of importance and satisfaction ratings allows for the different weights that different life domains have in a person's QOL. The present study aimed to investigate empirically the usefulness of combined satisfaction and importance ratings in the assessment of schizophrenic patients. In a cross-sectional study, 149 schizophrenic patients and 106 healthy controls rated their satisfaction with and the importance of 19 different life domains. Results of multidimensional scaling suggested that satisfaction and importance ratings tap different concepts in mentally healthy controls and schizophrenic patients. However, as compared with satisfaction ratings, importance ratings were even more shifted towards the positive pole of the scale and showed less variance. Very high correlations were found between the pure and the weighted satisfaction scores. No additional variance could be accounted for with regard to psychopathology, age or sex. Although a combination of satisfaction and importance ratings fits better with the subjective concept of QOL on a theoretical level, the results of this study do not support the application of this model in QOL assessment in schizophrenic patients. Copyright © 1999 Whurr Publishers Ltd.