The Quality of Life of Patients With Severe Illnesses

October 20, 2005 updated by: National Taiwan University Hospital

Lately researchers and clinicians have emphasized the health related quality of life. Several reasons account for this trend. First of all, the advanced medical practices have contributed to the increased life expectancy. Secondly, the pattern of diseases has shifted from high acuity to chronicity. Therefore, the effectiveness of health care could not be solely evaluated by the rates of morbidity and mortality. The state of patients' quality of life has become the pivotal indicator of the effectiveness of health care interventions. On the other hand, patients' subjective perceptions of health care are crucial factors in treatment processes. Therefore quality of life becomes reference in choosing health care interventions to enhance the benefits of patients.

The scopes of quality of life research include the essence of quality of life, the measurements of quality of life and the relationships between quality of life and its related factors, etc. The local researchers have long put efforts in quality of life research. The results of these studies have contributed to the understandings of different patients' quality of life. However, the majority of studies have focused on specific diseases. This study propose to extend the scope of quality of life research to study patients' quality of life of two severe illnesses, i.e. HIV infections and schizophrenia. These two illnesses represent two severe physical and psychiatric illnesses. Even their etiology, mechanisms, disease process, signs and symptoms, and treatments are different. However, the similarities of these two illnesses include both are severe illnesses without cure, both are stigmatized by the society. Patients with these two illnesses suffer in their personal lives, social relations and quality of life. Therefore the current study to further investigate and compare and contrast the essence of patients' quality of life and their related factors.

The proposed study is a second year study of the two-year study - The quality of life of patients with severe illnesses (NSC93-2314-B-002-294). The first year study focused on the investigation of the quality of life of patients with HIV infections (NSC93-2314-B-002-294). The aim of this proposed study is to compare and contrast the quality of life and its related factors of patients with schizophrenia and HIV infections. The contributions of this study include the in-depth understandings of quality of life of patients with HIV infections and schizophrenia and the comparison of quality of life of different illnesses. The results serve as the foundations in future development of intervention programs to enhance patients' quality of life and cost-effectiveness analyses.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Study Type

Observational

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

  • Name: Ping-Chuan Hsiung, Ph.D
  • Phone Number: 8430 02-23123456

Study Locations

  • Taiwan
      • Taipei, Taiwan
        • Recruiting
        • Ping-Chuan,Hsiung
        • Contact:
          • Ping-Chuan Hsiung
          • Phone Number: 8430 02-23123456

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

1 second and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • people with schizophrenia
  • people with HIV

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

National Taiwan University Hospital

Collaborators

National Science Council, Taiwan

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Ping-Chuan Hsiung, PH.D, National Taiwan University Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

August 1, 2005

Study Completion

July 1, 2006

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 12, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 12, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

September 15, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

October 21, 2005

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 20, 2005

Last Verified

September 1, 2005

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 9461700615
  • NSC93-2314-B-002-294

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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