Factors associated with poor social support in schizophrenia patients who are on follow up in public hospital, Tigray, Ethiopia: unmatched case-control study

Abstract

Background: Schizophrenia is a syndrome, which is characterized by affecting of thinking, perception, emotions, language, sense of self, and behavior of an individual. Schizophrenic people are faced more difficulty than the rest in the community at the areas of their social interaction. This study aimed to identify factors associated with poor social support in schizophrenia patients who were on follow up in public health hospital in mekelle city. Methods: Data were collected using interviewer administered questionnaire. Double population proportion was used to calculate sample size, and we used Oslo‐3 Social Support Scale (OSS‐3) to assess social support. Systematic sampling technique was employed to collect the data. Data was entered in the computer using Epidata manager 4.4.2.1 version and analyzed by using SPSS 25 version. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the associated factors. The p-value less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant.Results: divorced/window (AOR=3.93, 95%CI: 1.07, 14.43), and had no religious practice (AOR=6.6, 95%CI: 1.44, 30.29) were significantly associated with poor social support in schizophrenia patients. But, age, educational level and substance use were not significantly associated.Conclusion: This study identified important associated factors with poor social support in schizophrenia patients in the study area. Among the studied factors, divorced/window, and had no religious practice were found to be associated with poor social support of schizophrenia patients.

Investigating gender differences in quality of life and social support in patients with severe mental illnesses

“…In our study, both married and single individuals, regardless of gender, reported higher social support compared to divorced patients. In agreement with our findings, Andualem et al (2022) reported poor social support in divorced schizophrenia patients. Furthermore, higher income was associated with higher social support in both men and women.…”