Measuring subjective quality of life among users of mental health services in Norway

Torleif Ruud

doi:10.1921/swssr20252473

Authors

Torleif Ruud Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4821-1267

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr20252473

Keywords:

quality of life, Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life, MANSA, Mental health services, Norway

Abstract

Contact and collaboration with Peter over more than two decades has led to the use of MANSA as a measure of quality of life of several thousand patients in some Norwegian studies: a study of service users of community mental health centres, a national survey of outpatients in mental health services, and a study of service users of Assertive Community Treatment teams. Research in Norway has shown that MANSA has adequate measurement properties, that quality of life varies among subgroups of service users, that quality of life is associated with aspects of service delivery, and that quality of life in specific life domains are related to specific types of practical and social functioning.

Author Biography

Torleif Ruud, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog

Professor Torleif Ruud is Senior Researcher, Department of Research and Development in Mental Health Services, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway, and Professor Emeritus, Clinic of Health Services Research and Psychiatry, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway. He is a psychiatrist and a mental health services researcher. He has led studies on assertive community treatment, acute mental health services, crises resolution teams, community mental health centres, collaborative primary and mental health care, children with parental illness, implementation of evidence-based treatments for people with psychosis, and in other areas.

References

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Clausen, H., Landheim, A., Odden, S., Heiervang, K. S., Stuen, H. K., Killaspy, H., Saltyte Benth, J. and Ruud, T. (2015) Associations between quality of life and functioning in an assertive community treatment population. Psychiatr Serv, 66, 11, 1249-1252. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201400376

Clausen, H., Ruud, T., Odden, S., Benth, J. S., Heiervang, K. S., Stuen, H. K. and Landheim, A. (2020) Improved rehabilitation outcomes for persons with and without problematic substance use after 2 years with assertive community treatment-A prospective study of patients with severe mental illness in 12 Norwegian ACT teams. Front Psychiatry, 11, 607071. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.607071

Gråwe, R. W., Hatling, T. and Ruud, T. (2008) Bidrar utbyggingen av distriktspsykiatriske sentre til bedre tjenestetilbud og høyere brukertilfredshet? Resultater fra undersøkelser gjennomført i 2002, 2005 og 2007 [Does establishing community mental health centres to better health services and higher service user satisfaction? Results from studies conducted in 2002, 2005 and 2007] Rapport A6169. Sintef Helse.

Priebe, S., Huxley, P., Knight, S. and Evans, S. (1999) Application and results of the Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life (MANSA). Int J Soc Psychiatry, 45, 1, 7-12.

Ruud, T. and Reas, D. (2003) Distriktspsykiatriske sentre, tjenestetilbud og brukertilfredshet: Status og variasjon 2002.[Community mental health centres, services provided and service user satisfaction. Status and variations in 2002] Rapport STF78 A035008. Sintef Unimed.

Ruud, T., Gråwe, R. W., Lilleeng, S. and Bjørngaard, J. H. (2006) Endringer i tjenestetilbud og brukertilfredshet ved åtte distrikspsykiatriske sentre fra 2002 til 2005.[Changes in services provided and service user satisfaction at eight community mental health centres from 2002 to 2005] Rapport STF78 A055028. Sintef Helse.