Factores explicativos del funcionamiento ocupacional y de la calidad de vida en personas con trastorno mental grave

Resum

Occupation is important for the recovery, normal functioning and quality of life for people with chronic and severe mental illness. However, there are not enough studies about why this group of people spontaneously perform some occupations, and how they decide on how and why they award preference to some occupations in which they are involved. In order to understand these choices it is necessary to know how the person who suffers this type of illness uses his time, his daily activity and rest rhythms, their routines, variety and range of occupations, the meaning and value of the occupation as well as other possible factors that may act as a representation of the disease, its causal attribution, the sick person, and his/her family’s, perceived health control, the sense of coherence, emotions, coping strategies and his engagement to the treatment. The influence of these factors on both personal and social functioning and quality of life will also be studied in this research. The central concept of this research is that these categories may have an influence on the wellbeing and quality of life, and that the balance between them will help maintain good health. Through the results of this research, a model of relationships between variables proposed from the analysis of the previous literature is examined. In this way, health professionals will be able to know the specific components of the occupation where they should direct their interventions in order to improve the functioning and quality of life of people diagnosed with mental illness. Interventions aimed towards guiding beliefs regarding the disease in relation to personal control of one’s own mental health improves social functioning and reduces the burden of care for caregivers as well as the fact that people’s beliefs about their disease aren’t stable over time so they must be subject to ongoing evaluation by the professionals who assist them. Achieving or maintaining occupations that are necessary to live in the environment within the best possible quality of life and autonomy is the goal of the intervention treatment in occupational therapy in people with chronic and severe mental illness. Therefore, it is essential to study the choice of daily occupations and the use of time in order to offer people with mental illness the necessary tools to function effectively and therefore increase their quality of life.