Obsessive-compulsive symptoms, social support and quality of life of Psychiatric Out-patients at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital

Abstract

Background: Obsessive-compulsive symptoms can be found in people who suffer from mental illnesses, which are not necessarily obsessive-compulsive disorder. Yet, these symptoms can affect the sufferer’s quality of life (QOL).

Objective: The study aimed to determine obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms, social support and quality of life of Psychiatric Out-patients at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.

Methods: One hundred and eight Psychiatric Out-patients of 18 years old or over were enrolled to complete four self-assessed questionnaires including the personal information questionnaires, the Florida Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory Thai Version, the social support questionnaires and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief version-Thai version (WHOQOL-BREF-THAI) Questionnaires.

Results: There were 74 (68.5%) female patients, 32 (29.6%) male patients. The mean age was 33.5 ± 15.3 years old. The mean OCD symptom severity scores were 5.6, with 64.0% having a chance of developing OCD (scoring 5 or higher). Approximately 65.0% of the patients had medium social support while 17.6% had low social support. Most patients (73.1%) had medium QOL while 15.7% had poor QOL. Patients aging between 18 - 35 years tended to have poorer QOL as well as patients with depression, and those who had lower income. Patients who had a chance of developing OCD (scoring 5 or higher on the OCD symptom severity scales) and patients with low social support were more likely to have poorer QOL.

Conclusion: Age, income, social support, presence of depression, number of OC symptoms, scores on OCD symptom severity scales were found to be significantly related to the patients’ quality of life.