[Changes in the subjective perception of the quality of life. Retrospective study of patients treated at the Thalassa House].

Introduction: Quality of life and psychosocial functioning are considered important factors both in psychiatric and psychotherapeutic rehabilitation; similarly they are useful outcome measures in prospective studies. In this paper we present a retrospective study conducted with patients treated in Thalassa Haz Psychiatric and Psychotherapeutic Rehabilitation Center (TH).
Method: 1. Non-systematic review of the literature concerning quality of life and social functioning measures 2. Patients discharged form TH between 01. 01. 2008 and 31. 12. 2008 were included in the study. A semi-structured, patient reported instrument was used to assess psychosocial functioning, including single questions and an open-ended questions. Statistical analysis and manual content analysis were performed.
Results: 208 patients were contacted, 84 completed questionnaires were sent back and analysed. Less than 31% of the patients were rehospitalized within six months with the same problem. Subjective evaluation showed that 72% of the patients suffer less from the problem, with which they were treated in TH. The majority reported positive effect on interpersonal relations (67%) and autonomy (70%) due to the treatment. There is a significant correlation between treatment satisfaction and duration of treatment. The content analysis revealed significant negative correlation between generalisational content frequencies and treatment satisfaction.
Conclusions: Psychosocial functioning improved after treatment in the TH. Correlation was identified between treatment satisfaction and satisfaction with life, thus quality of life and duration of treatment. Combination of objective and subjective methods, as well as content analysis are useful measures in the effectiveness studies of therapeutic communities.