The Influence of Social Support on Cognitive Function of

Schizophrenic Patients

Ting Wang

, TaiFang Chen

and SanRong Xiao

Key Laboratory of Psychology of TCM and Brain Science, Jiangxi Administration of traditional Chinese Medicine,Jiangxi

University of Chinese Medicine,Nanchang, China

School of Public Administration, Nanchang University , Nanchang, China

Keywords: Schizophrenia, Cognitive Function, Social Support.

Abstract: With the continuous development of information technology in China, more and more attention has been paid

to effective informatization. Information transmission is not only endowed with the function of

communication, but also expected to improve life satisfaction and happiness, which is conducive to the

diversity and effectiveness of the treatment of various diseases including schizophrenia. Cognitive function

is an important condition for us to perceive external information and adapt to the objective environment. The

cognitive function of schizophrenic patients has always been an important embodiment of their quality of life

and information fluency. Therefore, the influencing factors of their cognitive function, such as social support,

have received extensive attention from researchers. In order to investigate the effect of social support on the

cognitive function of schizophrenia patients, 235 inpatients with schizophrenia in Nanchang were investigated

with RBANS and Social Support scale. The results showed that social support had a certain influence on the

cognitive function of patients with schizophrenia, and the better the social support was, the better the cognitive

function was. Social support and cognitive function of schizophrenia patients have different dimensions of

influence. Overall social support was positively correlated with immediate memory and delayed memory

(P< 0.01). The conclusions are as follows: Conclusion Social support has a certain effect on the cognitive

function of patients with schizophrenia, and these effects have a certain significance for the treatment of

cognitive function of patients with schizophrenia.

1 INTRODUCTION

Cognitive function is one of the important functions

of the human brain, and is also an important condition

for people to perceive the world and adapt to the

objective environment. Studies have shown that the

influencing factors of cognitive function include age,

age of first onset, cognitive bias, emotional cognition,

loneliness, family environment, social support, coping

style and other physiological, psychological and

social factors (Xue et al 2019). In addition, a number

of studies have shown that social support has an

important impact on cognitive function. For example,

social support has a positive correlation with the

cognitive function of the elderly. The more perfect the

social support network is, the more it can alleviate the

cognitive impairment of the elderly, and the more

perfect their cognitive function will be (Mo et al 2014,

Zhao &YU 2016). Therefore, social support has an

important influence on cognitive function.

Schizophrenia is a major mental disease mainly

characterized by positive symptoms, negative

symptoms and cognitive dysfunction, among which

cognitive dysfunction was first proposed by

Gallhofer in the early 1970s, pointing out that

cognitive dysfunction is the third core symptom along

with positive and negative symptoms (Gallhofer et al

1996). Cognitive function plays a very important role

in our adaptation to life. Generally, schizophrenia

patients have different degrees of cognitive

impairment, and the quality of cognitive function is

closely related to the integration of schizophrenia

patients into social life (Geng &Liu & Zhang 2019).

Therefore, intervention for patients with cognitive

impairment has become an important aspect of

prevention and treatment, and the restoration of

cognitive function has become one of the treatment

goals of patients with schizophrenia. Modern

rehabilitation medicine is also focusing on the study

of cognitive impairment (Liu 2019).

Wang, T., Chen, T. and Xiao, S.

The Inﬂuence of Social Support on Cognitive Function of Schizophrenic Patients.

DOI: 10.5220/0011229600003438

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Health Big Data and Intelligent Healthcare (ICHIH 2022), pages 62-66

ISBN: 978-989-758-596-8

At present, most of the effects on the cognitive

function of schizophrenia patients are mostly focused

on drug research. For example, Hu Yi et al. concluded

in 2021 that Shugan granules or aripiprazole

treatment can effectively improve women’s first-

episode schizophrenia. Causes the cognitive function

of patients with hyperprolactinemia, and Shugan

Granules are better than aripiprazole in improving

cognitive function (Hu et al 2016). Part of the

research focuses on physiological factors such as age,

education level, age of first onset, length of disease,

genetic factors and so on. However, there is little

research on the impact of social support on the

cognitive function of patients with schizophrenia, and

the influencing factors are analyzed from the

perspective of biology and medicine (Wang 2019).

In China, the main treatment for schizophrenia

patients is hospitalization and drug therapy. Due to

the particularity of the inpatient treatment

environment, it is difficult for patients with

schizophrenia to communicate fluently with the

outside world except for medical staff and visitors,

which has certain similarities with empty-nesters and

has certain limitations of information exchange. At

the same time, in the social support theory and

Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, social support

plays an indispensable positive role in the

improvement of individual cognitive function.

Therefore, it is necessary to explore the influence of

social support on the cognitive function of

schizophrenia patients from the psychological

perspective.

2 RESEARCH STATUS

Cognitive function is closely related to social support,

age, gender, education level and other factors. Some

scholars have concluded from the influence of the

cognitive function of the elderly in the community

that with the growth of age, the protective effect of

social support on the cognitive function of the elderly

is more and more important, and put forward

suggestions such as community and children should

accompany the elderly and improve the recreational

facilities for the elderly in the community (CAI et al

2011). Jiao Can, Yin Fei, Shen Xiaofang and Huang

Yufu concluded in 2020 that social support is

significantly correlated with the cognitive function of

the elderly, and the higher the level of social support,

the lower the incidence of cognitive impairment, and

the higher the level of social support, the lower the

loneliness and depression (Jiao et al 2020). Fan

Shuming, Wang Yixin and Jiao Can concluded in

2021 that the perceived social support of "elderly

drifters" can protect cognitive function by reducing

loneliness, and this process is regulated by

psychological resilience (Fan et al 2016). In the

interactive model of schizophrenia, social support is

assumed to be a protective factor contributing to

coping and competence, thus moderating the harmful

effects of social and environmental stressors (Yuan et

al 2019). In addition, Chen Liping showed in her

study on the influence of cognitive function on

patients with chronic schizophrenia in 2020 that

comprehensive nursing with increased social support

plays a role in promoting the improvement of

cognitive function of patients with schizophrenia

(Chen 2020). It also indicates that social support is

very important to explore the influencing factors of

cognitive function in schizophrenia patients. On the

whole, in recent years, studies on the impact of social

support on cognitive function have been analyzed

from the perspective of psychology. Most of the

research objects are the elderly, while there are few

studies on the impact of social support on the

cognitive function of patients with schizophrenia

(Zhou 2017, Zhang 2018).

The concept of social support originates from

Bowby's attachment theory, and began to be used in

the clinical treatment of psychiatry in the 1960s. By

the 1970s and 1980s, the Application of social

support was promoted to various aspects in the

United States. According to the different nature of the

resources provided by social support, foreign

scholars divide it into four categories: emotional

support, information support, friendship support and

instrumental support. After years of transnational

collaborative research, some foreign mental health

experts believe that the maintenance and

consolidation of social support network is most

directly related to mental health and quality of life

(Chen 2019).

Research on the cognitive function of

schizophrenia abroad has been earlier and has yielded

certain results. For example, Owen, Sawa and

Mortensen proposed in the study of schizophrenia in

2016 that the cognitive syndrome of schizophrenia

originates from the combined effect of genetics and

environment (Owen, Sawa & Mortensen 2016).

Some scholars have found that zotipine and clozapine

have different effects on the cognitive function of

patients with schizophrenia (Gallhofer et al 1996). In

addition, foreign scholars have discussed the

influence of social psychology on cognitive function

in the study of schizophrenia's motivation and the

relationship between neurocognition, social

cognition and functional outcome (Melissa et al

The Inﬂuence of Social Support on Cognitive Function of Schizophrenic Patients

2009). Generally speaking, people's understanding of

social support and cognitive function is diverse, but

from the perspective of social support, there are few

studies on the cognitive function of patients with

schizophrenia (Zuo &Jiang 2010, Zhang et al 2020).

3 RESEARCH DESIGN

The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of

social support on the cognitive function and different

dimensions of patients with schizophrenia. The tools

used self-compiled general survey questionnaire,

Xiao Shuiyuan's 1986 version of the "Social Support

Rating Scale", and a set of repetitive

neuropsychological status test (RBANS scale) (Chen

2017). Methods A random sampling method was used

to issue questionnaires to inpatients in Nanchang

Mental Hospital. A total of 235 questionnaires were

returned, of which 204 were valid questionnaires. The

effective response rate of the questionnaire was 87%.

The detailed distribution is shown in the table below.

Table 1: Distribution of subjects.

variable type the number of percentage

gender

male 112 54.90%

female 92 45.10%

It can be seen from the above table that there are

112 males, accounting for 54.9% of the subjects, and

92 females, accounting for 45.1%.

4 RESEARCH RESULTS AND

ANALYSIS

4.1 The General State of Social

Support in Schizophrenic Patient

Table 2: Social support description statistics.

Min Max

M±SD

Subjective support 8 31

19.58±4.69

Objective to support 1 20

8.75±4.28

Utilization of support 3 12

7.11±2.36

Social support 16 59

35.45±8.38

As can be seen from the above table, the score of

subjective support is 19.58, the score of objective

support is 8.75, the score of the utilization of support

is 7.11, and the total score of social support is 35.45,

which is between 32 and 44, indicating the middle

and low level of support.

4.2 Gender Difference Test of Social

Support for Schizophrenic Patients

Table 3: Gender difference analysis.

project

male female

M±SD M±SD

Subjective

support

19.63±

4.792

19.75±

4.60

0.154

Objective to

support

8.19±

4.162

9.44±

4.35

2.088*

Utilization of

support

6.48±

2.43

7.88±

2.026

4.393*

Total Score

for Social

Support

34.311±

8.596

36.85±

7.95

2.176*

Note: *p<0.05,***p<0.001

As can be seen from the above table, in the social

support scale and various dimensions of social

support, there is an extremely significant difference

between male and female subjects in the use of

support (T=-4.393, P < 0.001), and the score of

female is higher than that of male. This shows that in

terms of the use of support, women are more likely to

use support. At the same time, there were significant

differences in the total scores of objective support and

social support between male and female (T1=2.088,

T2=-2.176, P < 0.05), and the scores of female were

higher than that of male. It shows that women are

more likely to receive social support. The other items

showed no significant difference in gender (P <

0.05). To sum up, it can be inferred that the main

source of gender differences in social support is the

difference in the use of support.

4.3 The Influence of Social Support on

Different Dimensions of Cognitive

Function in Patients with

Schizophrenia

As can be seen from the above table, there is a

significant positive correlation between subjective

support and immediate memory and delayed

memory. There is a significant positive correlation

between objective support dimension, attention

dimension, delayed memory dimension and RBANS

total score. There is a significant positive correlation

between the utilization of support and immediate

memory. There was a significant positive correlation

between overall social support and immediate

memory and delayed memory.

ICHIH 2022 - International Conference on Health Big Data and Intelligent Healthcare

Table 4: Correlation matrix between social support and

cognitive function of schizophrenic patients.

Subjective

support

Objective

to support

Utilizati

on of

support

Social

suppo

Immediate

memor

0.25

7**

0.116 0.262**

0.277

The visual

span

0.07

0.051 0.021 -0.009

Speech

function

0.08

0.077 -0.005 0.084

Attention 0 0.187** 0.115 0.128

Delayed

memor

0.17

0.175** 0.132

0.223

RBAN

total score

0.04

0.151* 0.096 0.129

Note:*p<0.05,***p<0.001

5 DISCUSS

The results of the correlation analysis data of social

support and cognitive function of patients with

schizophrenia show that there is a significant

influence between the subjective support dimension

and the two dimensions of immediate memory and

delayed memory. Subjective support refers to

emotional support. The higher the individual’s

subjective support, the better the individual’s

subjective feelings, the more calm and normal the

mood, and the less affected by bad emotions.

Furthermore, when patients with schizophrenia

perform memory cognitive functions, they will have

a better effect. Good, for example, immediate

memory and delayed memory are better for the

patient. There is a significant influence between the

dimension of objective support and the two

dimensions of attention and delayed memory.

Objective support refers to objective and actual

support. The higher the objective support, the more

material support the patient usually receives, which

will affect the patient’s focus on the real material

world. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

theory, when the physiological needs are met, they

will focus on belonging and love The need to focus

on the communication itself. If the patient’s family

brings an apple to the patient, the patient is more

likely to notice the apple brought by the family

member first, and does not pay much attention to the

content of the conversation itself. When the apple is

eaten, the attention gathers to the communication

itself, and the family mentions it again. Patients will

re-recognize the topic of memory, therefore, the

higher the objective support, the better the

performance of attention and delayed memory. It has

a significant impact on the two dimensions of support

utilization and immediate memory. Human support is

a process of mutual support. The higher the utilization

of support, the more relevant information can be

obtained through the support network, and the better

the immediate memory effect. The two dimensions of

overall social support and immediate memory and

delayed memory have a significant impact. The

higher the overall social support, the patient will feel

that he has not been abandoned by his family and the

outside world, the patient’s stigma will be reduced,

the self-efficacy will be improved, the need for

belonging and love will be met, the cognitive function

of the brain will continue to be strengthened, and

therefore immediate memory And the delayed

memory dimension project performed well.

6 CONCLUSIONS

Social support has a certain influence on the cognitive

function of schizophrenia patients, the better social

support, the more perfect their cognitive

function. The effects of social support on the

cognitive function of schizophrenic patients were

different: there was a significant positive correlation

between overall social support and immediate

memory and delayed memory (P< 0.01); Subjective

support dimensions and immediate memory

(P<0.01),delayed memory (P< 0.05) there is a

significant positive correlation between the two

dimensions; Objective support dimensions and

attention (P< 0.01), delayed memory (P<0.05),

RBANS (P< 0.05) were significantly positively

correlated; There was a significant positive

correlation between the utilization of support and

immediate memory (P< 0.01).

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