Potential for recovering psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia spectrum disorders

Background. The potential for studying the psychosocial functioning of patients with schizophrenia is determined by the multi-factorial nature of the emergence and development of mental disorders and the ambiguity of the results of studies of specific environmental factors. Data on the significant influence of microsocial processes on recovery and adaptation in mental disorders is accumulated which entails the need for identifying the relationship between social and routine, including family and home functioning of patients and personal resources as potential factors in the formation of multilevel adaptive competencies and psychosocial functioning in mental disorders and the prospect of developing prac-tices to create a friendly home environment. Objective: to identify qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the home environment (family habitat), including features of attachment to home, nutritional status and physical activity in norm and in clinical and social maladaptation of persons with schizophrenia as a potential for recovery and optimization of adaptive capabilities and psychosocial functioning of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Materials and Methods. The study was conducted to test the hypothesis using continuous, non-sampling, non-repeated observation and questionnaire survey of the following four groups: Group 1 (n=152) – participants of the Mental Health Day project at the Mental Health Research Institute in 2021-2023, Group 2 (n=62) – relatives and significant others, Group 3 (n=67) – patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (according to ICD-10 F2), Group 4 (n=94) – healthy individuals (online survey). The total observation sample included 375 persons, the sample of those who underwent psychodiagnostic test-ing included 281 persons, aged 18-65 years. The clinical-dynamic method, questionnaire survey, experimental-psychological testing, and mathematical statistics methods were used. The level of attachment to home was assessed in points using the Attachment to Home Questionnaire, which was divided into two blocks: emotional-semantic and func-tional attachment to home. Nutritional characteristics and diets were determined using the Nutrition Questionnaire, which included 12 items. Physical activity was assessed using a short Physical Activity Questionnaire with 5 items on intensity and types of physical activity. The data obtained were statistically processed. Results. The study established the average scores of the psychosocial characteristics of attachment to home in groups: healthy respondents – 3.55, partici-pants of the Mental Health Day (users of specialist liaison care) – 3.75, relatives and significant others – 4.00, patients – 3.71. Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were characterized by a decrease in emotional-semantic attachment and an increase in function-al attachment to home. Correlation analysis revealed statistically significant correlations in the group of patients: between emotional-semantic attachment and functional attachment (r=0.813136, p=0.001), emo-tional-semantic attachment and the total score of attachment to home (r=0.961629, p=0.001). Analysis of diets showed that less than half (47.2%) of patients adhered to a rational diet. The average score on the Physical Activity questionnaire in patients was 2.0 [0; 3], a quarter of the respondents adhered to sedentary life style. At the trend level, negative correla-tions were established between the parameters of physical activity and some characteristics of emotional-semantic at-tachment to home. Conclusion. A study of microsocial factors in the functioning of patients with schizophrenia spec-trum disorders in the home environment revealed features of the psychosocial characteristics of attachment to home, dietary intake and physical activity. Mental Health Day participants showed average values of total and average scores, relatives and significant others demonstrated the highest values of total and average scores of attachment to home in the sample. Focuses for formation of appropriate technologies for psychosocial rehabilitation of patients were identified.