The EQ-5D and SF-36 achieved mixed results in the quantitative testing against psychometric criteria .
The qualitative analysis suggests this is because they provide a very limited coverage of themes identified by people with mental health problems .
BACKGROUND Generic preference-based measures of health like the EQ-5D and SF-6D ( ® ) are increasingly being used in economic evaluation and outcome assessment .
However , there are concerns as to whether or not these generic measures are appropriate for use in people with mental health problems .
OBJECTIVES The EQ-5D and SF-36 ( ® ) ( including its derivatives the SF-12 ( ® ) and SF-6D ) were assessed using the psychometric criteria of validity and responsiveness using quantitative and qualitative methods .
Another aim was to estimate mapping functions between the EQ-5D and SF-6D and condition-specific measures , where appropriate .
Quality of life during treatment with haloperidol or olanzapine in the year following a first psychotic episode
OBJECTIVES Schizophrenia causes significant impairments of quality of life . As treatment approaches have advanced , more attention has been given to re-integrating patients into their psychosocial environments , rather than simply monitoring psychotic symptoms . The development of the second-generation antipsychotics raised hope that these medications would provide better quality of life improvement than conventional antipsychotics . This improvement is particularly relevant early in the course of schizophrenia . METHODS To address these considerations , improvements in measures of general health and social function ( determined using the SF-36 ) were assessed in 195 patients with first-episode schizophrenia for up to one year following r and omization to either olanzapine or haloperidol  in a double blind clinical trial . We hypothesized that olanzapine would demonstrate better improvement on these measures than haloperidol . In order to test this hypothesis , we used a repeated measure model with SF-36 scores as the outcome , and treatment group , time , time2 , time-by-treatment group interaction , and time2-by-treatment group interaction as fixed effects . RESULTS Both treatments demonstrated similar changes on the SF-36 . Independent of treatment , patients demonstrated significant improvements in most of the SF-36 subscales , which approached normative scores by the end of one year of treatment . Forty-six of 100 olanzapine-treated patients and 37 of 95 haloperidol-treated patients completed the one year of this study ( p<.4 ) . CONCLUSIONS These results suggest an important initial treatment goal for patients with new onset schizophrenic disorders , namely that they can expect to recover significant quality of life and social function at least initially in treatment
The EQ-5D and SF-36 achieved mixed results in the quantitative testing against psychometric criteria .
The qualitative analysis suggests this is because they provide a very limited coverage of themes identified by people with mental health problems .
BACKGROUND Generic preference-based measures of health like the EQ-5D and SF-6D ( ® ) are increasingly being used in economic evaluation and outcome assessment .
However , there are concerns as to whether or not these generic measures are appropriate for use in people with mental health problems .
OBJECTIVES The EQ-5D and SF-36 ( ® ) ( including its derivatives the SF-12 ( ® ) and SF-6D ) were assessed using the psychometric criteria of validity and responsiveness using quantitative and qualitative methods .
Another aim was to estimate mapping functions between the EQ-5D and SF-6D and condition-specific measures , where appropriate .