Quality of Life in Drug Dependent Patients: A Study in Songkhla Province, Thailand
Patchanok Rattanakornpreeda MPH*, Suchada Paileeklee PhD*
Affiliation : * Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Objective : To study the quality of life among drug dependent patients in Government Health Service Unit in Songkhla.
Material and Method: The present study was a cross-sectional study. The sample was 749 drug dependent patients and
were from both the outpatient department (OPD) and the inpatient department (IPD) of Hatyai Hospital, Songkhla Hospital,
Thanyarak Songkhla Hospital, and Songkhla Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital. The instrument of the present study
was the Short-Form Health Survey-36 (SF-36) of The Medical Outcomes Study (MOS), Thai version. Data analysis used
descriptive statistics to describe the general characteristics and the quality of life of patients with drugs.
Results : The results of health assessment of the patients were the same as the last year (50.2%), consistent with type of
drug use. Types of drugs used for treatment, patterns, and methods of treatment were similar in the four hospitals. The
sample had the highest means of the quality of life in Physical Functioning (PF) 94.6±10.9. The lowest means was the
Social Functioning (SF) 53.8±11.1. Comparing with the general public, we found drugs patients’ quality of life was lower
in all aspects, except PF.
Conclusion : Most patients had similar health condition as last year. The highest quality of life of patients was in PF and
the lowest was in SF. The patients who used sedative drug had lower quality of life than the patients who used stimulating
and combination drug.
Keywords : Quality of life, SF-36, Drug dependent patients
