Q. What factors have a large contribution to the quality of life of a patient with schizophrenia?

A. Interpersonal relationships are extremely important to a patient’s quality of life be they with family, people within the community, close friends or within a group of patients. Additionally, the participation in everyday activities such as having a job, undertaking routine tasks (including housework) and leisure activities as well as being married, having family and friends also gives meaning and value to patients lives.

Q. What methods do you employ to preserve or improve the quality of life of your patients with schizophrenia?

In my role as an occupational therapist, I enable people to make things happen for themselves by getting them to ‘walk in the right direction’. Once they begin the concrete process of attending to their own goals and needs, patients start to feel much better.

Q. What proportion of patients with schizophrenia have the potential to achieve improvements in relationships?

A. In my experience, all those patients who actually want help (which is approximately 80% of the patients admitted to the unit) will show some improvement, regardless of the initial circumstances of their admission.