Indiana Consortium For Mental Health
Services Research
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

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Abstract

Reprint # 45: Health and Self-Care Practices of Persons With Schizophrenia

Data on the self-care and health ­related practices and health sta­tus of 22 outpatients with schizo­phrenia were collected from interviews using a series of health survey instruments and a review of patient records. The patients practiced fewer health -promoting behaviors than nonpsychiatric samples described in the litera­ture and were at risk for prema­ture death primarily due to over­eating and smoking. They were most similar to persons with chronic physical illness in their perception of the locus of control of their health. More than half of the patients had physical conditions requiring medical management. (Psychiatric Services 50: 827-829,1999)