Beyond Assessment of Quality of Life in Schizophrenia

Dr. A. George Awad is a professor emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry and the Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Canada. Until recently, Dr. Awad served as the Founding President of the International Society of CNS Clinical Trials Methodology, and also as the Psychiatrist-in-Chief of Humber River Hospital, in Toronto. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology Medal for meritorious contributions to neuropsychopharmacology, the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Award for distinguished researcher in schizophrenia, and, recently, the Andrew C. Leon Distinguished Career Award in CNS clinical trial methodology and neurosciences. Over his forty-five years of academic and research contributions, Dr. Awad dedicated his research focus on the “person” behind the illness and the outcomes that matter most to the patient.Dr. Lakshmi N.P. Voruganti joined Dr. Awad as both a Master’s and PhD candidate, and made significant contributions exploring and extending Dr. Awad’s early research contributions, particularly in the area of neurobiology of subjective tolerability to antipsychotic medications. After gaining his PhD degree, he pursued an independent clinical research career as an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada and, later, at McMaster’s University in Hamilton, Ontario. At present, he is a practicing psychiatrist at Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

• Part I:Basic and Conceptual Issues.- Schizophrenia and it’s sequelae.- Issues that slowed progress in the assessment of health-related quality of life in schizophrenia.- Social cognition and health-related quality of life in schizophrenia.- Conceptual issues in cultural adaptation and the role of culture in assessment of health-related quality of life in schizophrenia.- Part II:Methodological Issues.- A review of quality of life assessment measures in schizophrenia – limitations and future developments – a review.- Assessment of burden of care and quality of life of caregivers in schizophrenia.- Electronic technology and advances in assessment of outcomes.- Modern psychometric approaches to analysis of scales for health-related quality of life.- Part III:Beyond Assessment of Quality of Life in Schizophrenia.- Health-related quality of life as an outcome and mediator of other outcomes.- Using routine quality of life assessment to improve effectiveness of community mental health care.- Quality of life assessments in the development and clinical trials of new antipsychotics – pharmaceutical industry perspective.- Quality of life and health-costs – the feasibility of cost-utility analysis in schizophrenia.- Health-related quality of life in schizophrenia: health policy and resource allocation.- Beyond assessment of quality of life in schizophrenia: cultural, clinical and research perspectives from India – a case study.- Part IV:Reinventing Quality of Life in Schizophrenia.- Concluding remarks and future challenges.

“The purpose is to advocate for refining conceptually the idea of quality of life in schizophrenia, bridging the present gaps and going beyond measurements to its significant applications in impacting clinical care and health economics. … It is relevant for researchers evaluating treatment efficacy in terms of quality of life changes and clinicians who need to look beyond symptom reduction and how treatment affects the life of these individuals.” (Michael Easton, Doody's Book Reviews, November, 2016)