ABSTRACT

Abstract: Objective To explore the social support status of family members of patients with five types of mental disorders in Nanjing Pukou District communities.
Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 497 family members of patients with five types of mental disorders in Nanjing Pukou District communities from February 2020 to December 2023. Social support rating scale (SSRS) was used to evaluate the social support status of family members of patients. According to the SSRS score, the above family members were divided into good social support group (SSRS≥34 points) and poor social support group (SSRS<34 points). Univariate analysis was used to compare the differences in gender, age, education level and marital status of family members, disease type of patients, duration of illness, degree of disease stability, status of living with patients, relationship with patients, family per capita monthly income, number of family subsidies, professional guidance and other factors between groups. Binary Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the independent risk factors affecting social support of family members of patients with five types of mental disorders.
Results According to the SSRS score, there were 189 family members with SSRS≥34 points (38.03%) and 308 family members with SSRS<34 points (61.97%). The scores of dimensions of SSRS in good social support group were significantly higher than those in poor social support group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in gender, age and marital status of family members, type of disease of patients, living with patients, and relationship with patients between groups (P>0.05). The proportion of lower education level (below bachelor degree), the proportion of patients with disease duration>5 years, the proportion of aggravation of disease stability, the proportion of family per capita monthly income≤3000 yuan, the proportion of the number of family subsidies≤1 and the proportion of lack of professional guidance were higher in poor social support group than those in good social support group (P<0.05). Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that education level below bachelor degree (OR=1.423), disease duration of patients>5 years (OR=1.728), aggravation of disease stability (OR=1.644), family per capita monthly income≤ 3000 yuan (OR=1.904), number of family subsidies≤ 1 (OR=2.048), and lack of professional guidance (OR=1.868) were all independent risk factors affecting the social support of family members of patients with five types of mental disorders (P<0.05).
Conclusion   The social support of patients with five types of mental disorders in Nanjing Pukou District communities is poor, and it is affected by factors such as cultural level, patients’ disease duration, disease stability degree, family per capita monthly income, number of family subsidies, and lack of professional guidance. Based on the above factors, targeted measures can be formulated to improve the social support level of family members of patients.

Key words: Key words: Nanjing Pukou District communities; Mental disorders; Family members of patients; Social support; Status investigation