Social skill training is aimed at not only preventing rehospitalization of chronic psychiatric patients by maintaining them in the community, but also to help patients have a good quality of life. We address the question of how social skill training could improve the quality of life of chronic mentally ill patients. A theoretical model, including environmental as well as individual considerations, indicates which psychological factors could be both targets of social skill training interventions and determinatives of patients subjective quality of life. The clinical and research implications of this theoretical model are discussed.
