Influence of Severity of Auditory Hallucinations and Social Support on Depressive Symptoms of Chronic Schizophrenia Spectrum patients

Wednesday, 1 August 2012

Chiu-Yueh Yang, PhD
School of Nursing, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan
Hsiu-Yueh Tseng, MSN, RN
Department of Nursing, Taoyuan Veterans Hospital, Tao - Yuan, Taiwan

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to understand the influence of severity of auditory hallucinations and social support on depressive symptoms of schizophrenia spectrum patients.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to understand the predictors of depressive symptoms of schizophrenia spectrum patients

Purpose: This study is a correlational study exploration the influence of severity of auditory hallucinations and social support on depressive symptomss of schizophrenia spectrum patients.

Methods: Convenience sample was conducted on schizophrenia spectrum patients with auditory hallucination in psychiatric chronic wards, outpatient department and day care in northern medical hospitals. Measurement instrument was self-report, including four parts: demographic data, Chinese Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Auditory Hallucination Assessment Scale, Beck Depressive Inventory II. There were 162 qualified subjects in total. The data was analyzed by SPSS 15.0 and was processed by descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. In descriptive statistics, there are mean, standard deviation, median and percentage. In inferential statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Pearson correlation were included. And logistic regression was used to test predictors of depressive problem.

Results: Results found related to the severity of auditory hallucinations, social support, and depressive symptoms: 1. The more severe the auditory hallucinations of schizophrenia spectrum patients is, the more sever the depressive symptoms are. 2. The less social support there is, the more severe the depressive symptoms are. 3. After controlling demographic effect, the related factors that have significant influence on the depressive problem of schizophrenia spectrum patients are: the results of emotional and behavioral consequence in the severity of auditory hallucinations (OR = 1.140, 95% CI : 1.075-1.208), social support (OR = 0.946, 95% CI : 0.901-0.993).

Conclusion: This research can be reference for nursing professionals who care for schizophrenia spectrum patients to alleviate the emotional behavior symptoms caused by auditory hallucinations and provide social support that can decrease the occurrence of depression problems.