Measurement of individualised quality of life amongst young people with indicated personality disorder during emerging adulthood using the SEIQoL-DW Paul Farrand • Joanne Woodford Accepted: 19 May 2012 / Published online: 4 June 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract Purpose To examine both the feasibility of applying the Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life— Direct Weighting procedure (SEIQoL-DW) as a routine outcome measure within an early intervention service for young people with indicated personality disorder and the overall quality of life (QoL) in this population. Methods SEIQoL-DW was administered alongside the Standardised Assessment of Personality—Abbreviated Scale—Self-Report (SAPAS-SR), Patient Health Ques- tionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—Primary Care (PTSD-PC) as part of routine service evaluation over a 16-month period. Descriptive statistics were calculated for data reflecting use of the SEIQoL-DW alongside demographic and outcome variables. Results The SEIQoL-DW was administered to 52 young adults with indicated personality disorder, with 47 com- pleting the measure, taking an average time of 27 min. Individual QoL was poor with a mean global index score of 55.07 (SD = 22.34). Individual QoL areas formed five main domains—‘Aspects of Daily Living’, ‘Relationships’, ‘Social Life and Leisure’, ‘Family’ and ‘Emotional and Physical Wellbeing’. Conclusion This study further extends the application of the SEIQoL-DW for use as a routine outcome measure within a busy service setting, although ways to accommodate administration time need to be considered. Poor QoL high- lights the need for continued development of services to meet the needs of young adults with indicated personality disorder. Keywords Quality of life Á SEIQoL-DW Á Personality disorder Á Emerging adulthood Á Service evaluation Introduction Personality disorder is recognised by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [1] as an Axis II psychiatric disorder. It is seen as occurring when personality traits cause significant impairment or distress due to their inflexibility, maladaptive and chronic nature with detection often based upon a history of adverse life events, interper- sonal difficulties and chaotic lifestyles [2]. This results in patients with borderline personality disorder often also meeting criteria for a mood or anxiety disorder [3]. Indeed, one study found that over 90 % individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder met criteria for a mood or anxiety disorder [4], with patients also at increased likeli- hood of meeting diagnosis for post-traumatic stress disorder [5]. Given such levels of impairment and co-morbidity, it is perhaps unsurprising that personality disorder has been identified as having a significant impact upon quality of life (QoL) in adults [6, 7]. For example, personality disorders have been reported to be significant predictors of low scores across a range of subscales on the SF-12 [8], including mental health, social functioning and role impairment due to emotional problems [9, 10]. Such an association between personality disorder and these subscales remains even when commonly occurring co-morbid Axis I disorders are con- trolled for [10]. P. Farrand (&) Á J. Woodford Mood Disorders Centre, Psychology, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Perry Road, Exeter, Devon EX4 4QG, UK e-mail: p.a.farrand@exeter.ac.uk J. Woodford e-mail: j.woodford@exeter.ac.uk 123 Qual Life Res (2013) 22:829–838 DOI 10.1007/s11136-012-0210-y