Compare social support in patients with schizophrenia or methamphetamine dependency with healthy individuals
| Date | 05 May 2023 |
| Pages | 596-603 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/MHSI-02-2023-0019 |
| Published date | 05 May 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Mental health,Social inclusion |
| Author | Fatemeh Amini,Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi,Jamshid Yazdani Charati |
Compare social support in patients with
schizophrenia or methamphetamine
dependency with healthy individuals
Fatemeh Amini, Seyyed Mohammad Mousavi and Jamshid Yazdani Charati
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to compare the social support among patients with schizophrenia or
methamphetaminedependency with healthyindividuals.
Design/methodology/approach –Using convince sampling, the authors recruited 80 patients
(schizophrenia, n= 40; methamphetamine dependency, n= 40) and their companions (healthy
individuals,n= 40) who were referredto a psychiatric hospitalin a cross-sectional studyin Sari, Iran. In in-
person interviews, the authors collected data on demographic characteristics and measured social
supportusing a standardized questionnaire.
Findings –The three groups were similar regarding age and marital status, but different in gender
distribution (p= 0.001). The average social support score was 58.0 in the schizophrenia group
and 42.3 in the methamphetamine-dependent group, both significantly lower than 63.6 in the
healthy group (p= 0.001). The social support scores in schizophrenia and methamphetamine-
dependent groups were significantly lower than those in the healthy group across all subgroups of
gender (p<0.04), age (p<0.05) and marital status (p<0.001). The methamphetamine-
dependent group had the lowest score overall and across all demographic groups and social
support subdomains.
Research limitations/implications –This study had twomain limitations. First, the study samples were
from one city and one hospitalin the north of Iran and so may not be generalizable to other population and
settings. Second, the authors did not study the causes or predictors of low social support like social
stigmawhich should be studied in future studies.
Originality/value –Despite the limitations,this study found low social support for people diagnosedwith
schizophrenia or methamphetamine dependency. Intervention to increase social support for them,
especiallyfor those with substance use, is required.
Keywords Social support, Schizophrenia, Methamphetamine, Healthy individuals
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
About 1% of the world population has schizophrenia (RN SLVP, 2003), and its prevalence in
the world is 36.6 per 1,000 people(Yu et al.,2018). In Iran, the prevalence of schizophrenia
is 0.6% (about 450,000 affected people) (Navidian et al.,2012). Due to the progressive
trend, severe symptoms and chronic disability, most patients need often and reoccurring
admission to the hospital (Awad and Voruganti, 2008). Several factors may lead to
reoccurrence and severe symptoms including social factors such as lack of social support.
Improving social support showed improved physical and psychological well-being
(Bagheri-Nesami et al., 2012;Dennis et al., 2008;Sarafino and Smith, 2014). Vice versa,
poor family support was reported to be associated with poor quality of life in patients with
schizophrenia (Adewuya and Makanjuola, 2009), severe psychological symptomsand poor
social adjustment (Hamadaet al., 2003).
Fatemeh Amini, Seyyed
Mohammad Mousavi and
Jamshid Yazdani Charati
are all based at the
Department of Psychology,
Mazandaran University of
Medical Sciences, Sari,
Iran.
The authors thank Deputy of
Research and Technology –
Mazandaran IR.MAZUMS.
REC.1397.1307 for the support.
PAGE 596 jMENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL INCLUSION jVOL. 28 NO. 5 2024, pp. 596-603, ©EmeraldPublishing Limited, ISSN 2042-8308 DOI 10.1108/MHSI-02-2023-0019
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