Validity of Self-Reports About Quality of Life Among Patients With Schizophrenia

Lehman's Quality of Life Interview was administered to 22 patients with schizophrenia and their proxies and to 15 patients with cancer and their proxies. The results indicated that there was a discrepancy between responses on global objective and subjective measures for patients with schizophrenia but not for patients with cancer. A discrepancy was also found for the proxies of the patients with schizophrenia but not for the proxies of the patients with cancer. These findings suggest that the discrepancy between subjective and objective indicators of quality of life of patients with schizophrenia signifies a genuine difference rather than an anomaly related to the patient's psychiatric condition.