Aim: To assess and compare the Quality of Life among Patients and Caregivers visiting faith healers and those not visiting faith healers in psychotic as well as neurotic patients. Materials & Methods: Total 100 pairs (patient and their respective caregiver) were enrolled in the study. The pattern of presentation and the quality of life of patients and caregivers was assessed. The enrolled subjects and their caregivers as per the criteria, were divided into 2 groups- Group 1 consisting of those who visited faith healers and Group 2 consisting of those who didn’t visit faith healers. All subjects then were subjected independently to the Supernatural Attitude Questionnaire and WHOQoL-BREF Punjabi scale. Results: We found that QoL scores across the different domains followed a pattern with respect to the Group 1 and Group 2 patients such as Group 2 patients having higher QoL scores in Domain 4. Similarly, the same pattern was followed in the QoL scores of the caregivers of Group 1 and Group 2 patients with caregivers of Group 2 patients having a higher QoL as compared to caregivers of Group 1 patients. Conclusion: The study showed that Quality of life of patients and their caregivers who believed in faith healers and those who didn’t could be compared and the insights from them used to improve adherence among various psychiatric patients.

Faith healers; Quality of life; caregivers;