Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Apr 19, 2023; 13(4): 171-181
Published online Apr 19, 2023. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i4.171
Relationship between perceived social support and post-traumatic growth in coronavirus disease 2019 patients discharged from the hospital
Meltem Şirin Gök, Bahar Çiftçi
Meltem Şirin Gök, Bahar Çiftçi, Department of Fundamental of Nursing, Ataturk University, Erzurum 25000, Turkey
Bahar Çiftçi, HGF Agro, Ata Teknokent, Erzurum 25240, Turkey
Author contributions: Şirin Gök M contributed to the data analysis; Şirin Gök M and Çiftçi B contributed to the study design, data collection, study supervision, manuscript writing and critical revisions for important intellectual content.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Atatürk University Rectorate Health Research and Application Center Directorate Institutional Review Board (Approval No. E-45361945-000-2200254817).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bahar Çiftçi, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Fundamental of Nursing, Ataturk University, Atateknokent, Erzurum/Yakutiye, Erzurum 25000, Turkey. bahar.ciftci@atauni.edu.tr
Received: December 29, 2022
Peer-review started: December 29, 2022
First decision: January 17, 2023
Revised: January 22, 2023
Accepted: March 21, 2023
Article in press: March 21, 2023
Published online: April 19, 2023
Processing time: 109 Days and 17.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected mental health and physical health negatively in some individuals. Examining perceived social support and post-traumatic growth (PTG) in COVID-19 patients could facilitate our understanding of how patients maintain their mental health.

AIM

To examine the relationship between the level of perceived social support and PTG in COVID-19 patients discharged from the hospital.

METHODS

This descriptive study was carried out between August and September 2022 with patients who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 in a university hospital in Erzurum and who were discharged at least 3 mo prior to the beginning of the study. The study was completed by 196 patients. Study data were collected face-to-face using a personal information form, multidimensional scale of perceived social support and PTG inventory.

RESULTS

The total mean score of the multidimensional scale of perceived social support was 63.82 ± 15.72. The PTG inventory total mean score was 47.77 ± 19.85. In addition, a direct significant correlation was found between perceived social support in COVID-19 patients and PTG.

CONCLUSION

The study results showed that perceived social support variables affected PTG significantly. Therefore, it is recommended for healthcare professionals to implement interventions to promote social support from healthcare professionals and the patient’s family and friends. Considering the negative effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is very important and necessary to implement effective public health interventions to promote PTG to reduce mental health problems.

Keywords: COVID-19 patients; Perceived social support; Post-traumatic growth; COVID-19

Core tip: Since post-traumatic growth (PTG) includes development at the level of psychosocial functionality, it can contribute to personal development by positively affecting psychological and social factors after traumatic events. Social support positively affects an individual’s mental health and PTG. The results of this study remarkably showed that there is a significant relationship between perceived social support and PTG. More studies are needed to confirm this observation.