Background: There are many studies on the relationship between social ties and mental health but there is so far no research on the role of the social network in relation to inpatient or day-care treatment. This is of interest as in inpatient treatment patients are taken out of their social network completely, while in day care they are left in their natural environment.
Aims: This study investigates whether there are interactions between the mode of care (inpatient versus day-care treatment) and characteristics of the social network.
Methods: Fifty seven matched pairs (inpatients, day-care patients) with mental or psychosomatic disorders were assessed with the Multidimensional Social Contact Circle Questionnaire (MuSC-Q). Patients and their partners were asked to characterize their mutual relationship.
Results: Patients who were married or living together with a partner were more often treated in day care. Social integration and social strain similarly decreased during inpatient and day-care treatment whereas emotional support increased. While both patient groups evaluated the relationship to their partner similarly, the partners of day-care patients saw more strain on their relationship during hospitalization.
Conclusion: The results suggest that patients who do not live alone prefer the day-care treatment facility. Patients in both modes of care at the end see their partnership as more supportive. For their partners, day care means that they have greater burdens to cope with when the patient is in treatment and still at home.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Antonucci, T.C. ( 1990) Social supports and social relationships. In Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences (eds. R.H. Binstock & L.K. George), pp. 205-226. London: Academic Press.
2.
Baekeland, F. & Lundwall, L. ( 1975) Dropping out of treatment: A critical review. Psychological Bulletin, 82, 738-783.
3.
Bengtsson-Tops, A. & Hansson, L. ( 2001) Quantitative and qualitative aspects of the social network in schizophrenic patients living in the community. Relationship to sociodemographic characteristics and clinical factors and subjective quality of life. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 47(3), 67-77.
4.
Berkman, L.F. ( 1995) The role of social relations in health promotion. Psychosomatic Medicine, 57, 245-254.
5.
Billings, A.G., Cronkite, R.C. & Moos, R.H. ( 1983) Social-environmental factors in unipolar depression: Comparisons of depressed patients and non-depressed controls. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 92, 119-133.
6.
Birkel, R.C. & Reppucci, N.D. ( 1983) Social networks, information-seeking and the utilization of services. American Journal of Community Psychology, 11, 185-205.
7.
Blazer, D.G. ( 1982) Social support and mortality in an elderly community population . American Journal of Epidemiology, 115, 684-694.
8.
Creed, F., Mbaya, P., Lancashire, S., Tomenson, B.Williams, B. & Holme, S. ( 1997) Cost-effectiveness of day and inpatient psychiatric treatment: Results of a randomized controlled trial. British Medical Journal, 314, 1381-1385.
9.
Derogatis, L.R. ( 1992) SCL-90-R. Administration, Scoring and Procedures Manual-II for the R(evised) Version and other Instruments of the Psychopathology Rating Scale Series. Townson: Clinical Psychometric Research.
10.
DiMatteo, M.R. ( 2004) Social support and patient adherence to medical treatment: A meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 23(2), 207-218.
11.
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G. & Buchner, A. ( 2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175-191.
12.
Fratiglioni, L., Wang, H.X., Ericsson, K., Maytan, M. & Winblad, B. ( 2000) Influence of social network on occurrence of dementia: A community-based longitudinal study. The Lancet, 355, 1315-1319.
13.
Geiselmann, B. & Linden, M. ( 2001) Vollstationäre, tagesklinische und kombiniert stationär-teilstationäre psychosomatische Rehabilitation im Vergleich. Verhaltenstherapie und Verhaltensmedizin, 22(4), 432-450.
14.
Geiselmann, B. & Linden, M. ( 2006) Teilstationäre Patienten in der psychosomatischen Rehabilitation im Vergleich zu vollstationären Patienten. RVaktuell, 53(1), 14-20.
15.
Hallberg, L.R.-M. & Strandmark, M.K. (2006) Health consequences of workplace bullying: Experiences from the perspective of employees in the public service sector. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 1(2), 109-119.
16.
Hofmann, C., Bischoff, C., Kampa, L. & Dirion, E. ( 1998) Teilstationäre Therapie in der Psychosomatischen Fachklinik Bad Dürkheim: Erfahrungen mit einem neuen Angebot. Praxis der Klinischen Verhaltensmedizin und Rehabilitation, 44, 52-59.
17.
Krause, N. & Rook, K.S. ( 2003) Negative interaction in late life: Issues in the stability and generalizability of conflict across relationships. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences , 58, 88-99.
18.
La Gaipa, J.J. ( 1990) The negative effects of informal support systems. In Personal Relationships and Social Support (eds. S. Duck & R.C. Silver), pp. 122-139. London: Sage.
19.
Linden, M. ( 2003) Verhaltenstherapie: Theoretische und empirische Grundlagen sowie klinische Anwendungsprinzipien. In Psychiatrie & Psychotherapie (eds. H.-J. Möller , G. Laux & H.-P. Kapfhammer). Berlin: Springer.
20.
Linden, M. ( 2004) Das therapeutische Milieu in der teilstationären Rehabilitation. Erkenntnisse aus der Forschung, Umsetzung in die Praxis. Ambulante Rehabilitation, self-published,95-105.
21.
Linden, M., Lischka, A.-M., Popien, C. & Golombek, J. ( 2007) The Multidimensional Social Contact Circle - An interview for the assessment of the social network in clinical practice. Zeitschrift für Medizinische Psychologie, 16, 135-143.
22.
Orth-Gomer, K. & Johnson, J.V. ( 1987) Social network interaction and mortality: A six-year follow-up study of a random sample of the Swedish populations. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 40, 949-957.
23.
Rüddel, H. & Jürgensen, R. ( 1998) Teilstationäre psychosomatische Rehabilitation in der Psychosomatischen Fachklinik St.-Franziska-Stift Bad Kreuznach. Praxis der Klinischen Verhaltensmedizin und Rehabilitation, 44, 39-44.
24.
Schwarzer, R. & Rieckmann, N. ( 2002) Social support, cardiovascular disease and mortality. In Heart Disease: Environment, Stress and Gender (eds. G. Weidner, M. Koop & M. Kristenson), pp. 185-197. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
25.
Schützwohl, M., Glöckner, M., Matthes, C., Eichler, T. & Kallert, T. ( 2005) The burden on relatives of acute mentally ill within the first four weeks of day hospital and inpatient treatment. Results from a randomized controlled trial. Psychiatrische Praxis, 32, 281-288.
26.
Walen, H.R. & Lachman, M.E. ( 2000) Social support and strain from partner, family and friends: Costs and benefits for men and women in adulthood. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 17(1), 5-30.
27.
World Health Organization (1992) ICD-10: The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines. Geneva: WHO.
28.
Zunzunegui, M.V., Béland, F. & Otero, A. ( 2001) Support from children, living arrangements, self-rated health and depressive symptoms of older people in Spain. International Journal of Epidemiology, 30, 1090-1099.
