[Social functioning of patients with schizophrenia: a follow-up study]

The subject of this study was evaluation of social functioning of schizophrenic patients after a period of ten to twenty years of follow-up. 70 patients (29 men and 41 women) selected from the initial group of 303 patients (181 men and 122 women), with the diagnosis of schizophrenia were studied. They had been admitted for the first time to the Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases in Gniezno in the years 1975-76. Examinations were carried in household environment (interviews with patients and their relatives), based on of a standardized questionnaire. In the examination, six realms of social activity were considered: professional occupation, home occupation, self independence, participation in family life, care for a child, social relations and interests. The level of social functioning in the examined group of 70 schizophrenic patients several years after the first psychiatric hospitalization has been found satisfactory in 57% patients. Women were functioning better, especially in the scope of participation in family life and fulfilment of home duties. Better level of social functioning was related to lower family history of mental illness, lower degree of invalidization, activity attitude towards the illness and positive self evaluation of the state of health, advantageous family situation, better fulfilment of social needs and lower family burden caused by the patient.