Social support and clinical and functional outcome in people with schizophrenia

Abstract

Purpose: The impact of Social Support (SS) on the clinical and functional evolution of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia was studied from a multidimensional concept of SS in the framework of the vulnerability-stress model.

Methods: In total, 152 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10) treated in a Community Mental Health Unit were assessed using the Mannheim Interview on Social Support (MISS) and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Then they were followed up for 3 years with a final assessment for the period using the Social Functioning Scale. The impact of SS was explored in clinical and functional measurements with a multiple regression analysis in a 3-year longitudinal prospective design.

Results: The quality of Global Social Support (GSS) and satisfaction with GSS appeared to be protective factors from frequency and duration of hospital admissions, with explanatory intensity varying from 9% in survival time to relapse to 13% in number of relapses. Concerning functional measurements, GSS quantity, quality and satisfaction showed an explanatory power for several different dimensions of social functioning, varying from 12% in isolation to 20% in communication.

Conclusion: The results confirm SS as a protective factor in the evolution of schizophrenia patients and enable the SS variables with the most explanatory power in their clinical and functional evolution to be identified.

Keywords: Social support; outcome; schizophrenia; social functioning.