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Social contacts, friends and satisfaction with friendships in patients with psychotic, mood and neurotic disorders 1 year after hospitalisation: data from five European countries

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Abstract

Background

People with severe mental illness often struggle with social relationships, but differences among diagnostic groups are unclear. We assessed and compared objective and subjective social relationship indicators among patients with psychotic, mood and neurotic disorders one year after hospitalisation in five European countries (Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland and United Kingdom).

Methods

The number of social contacts, including family members and friends during the previous week (Social Network Schedule), and satisfaction with the number and quality of friendships (Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life Quality) were assessed by face-to-face interview. Linear regression models were used to analyse associations with diagnostic groups.

Results

Participants (n = 2155) reported on average 2.79 ± 2.37 social contacts overall in the previous week, among whom, a mean of 1.65 ± 1.83 (59.2 ± 38.7%) were friends. Satisfaction with friendships was moderate (mean 4.62, SD 1.77). In the univariable model, patients with psychotic disorders reported having less social contact with friends than those with either mood (p < 0.05) or neurotic disorders (p < 0.001), but this difference disappeared when adjusting for socioeconomic and clinical variables (β = − 0.106, 95% CI − 0.273 to 0.061, p = 0.215). Satisfaction with friendships was similar across diagnostic groups in both univariable (β = − 0.066, 95% CI − 0.222 to 0.090, p = 0.408) and multivariable models (β = 0.067, 95% CI − 0.096 to 0.229, p = 0.421). The two indicators showed a weak correlation in the total sample (total social contacts, rs = 0.266; p < 0.001; friends, rs = 0.326, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

While objective and subjective social relationship indicators appear to be weakly correlated concepts, there is no variation in either indicator across diagnostic groups when confounders are taken into account among patients with severe mental illness. Interventions specifically targeting social relationships are needed, but they do not necessitate diagnosis-specific adaptations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the wider COFI study group, the support of the funders, the supporting services and the participants who took part in the study.

Funding

This study was funded by the European Commission 7th Framework Programme. Grant agreement number is 602645.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry (World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Services Development), Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Kurt Buhagiar, Stefan Priebe & Domenico Giacco

  2. Department of Research, Innovation and Medical Education, East London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Kurt Buhagiar & Domenico Giacco

  3. Department of Studies on Alcohol and Drug Dependence, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland

    Justyna Klingemann

  4. Section of Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Antonio Lasalvia

  5. Institute of Health and Society (IRSS), Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium

    Pablo Nicaise

  6. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Bettina Soltmann

  7. Warwick Medical School - Mental Health and Wellbeing, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Domenico Giacco

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  1. Kurt Buhagiar
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  7. Domenico Giacco
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Correspondence to Kurt Buhagiar.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

Ethical approval was obtained in all participating countries: Belgium: Comité d’Ethique hospitalo-facultaire des Cliniques St-Luc Brussels; Germany: Ethical Board, Technische Universität Dresden; Italy: Comitati Etici per la sperimentazione clinica (CESC) delle provincie di Verona, Rovigo, Vicenza, Treviso, Padova; Poland: Komisja Bioetyczna przy Instytucie Psychiatrii i Neurologii w Warszawie; and UK: National Research Ethics Committee North East—Newcastle & North Tyneside (ref: 14/NE/1017).

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Buhagiar, K., Priebe, S., Klingemann, J. et al. Social contacts, friends and satisfaction with friendships in patients with psychotic, mood and neurotic disorders 1 year after hospitalisation: data from five European countries. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 56, 363–373 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01915-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01915-8

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