Evaluation of social autonomy of schizophrenic patients

Abstract

Introduction Schizophrenia is a debilitating and mutilating mental illness, generally progressing in a Chronic way . It is at the origin of a limitation of social autonomy and source of psychological distress . Objectives evaluate the effective social autonomy of schizophrenic patients. Methods it is a cross-sectional study carried out at the EPS psychiatry consultation in Mahdia during a period of 3 months, with schizophrenic patients meeting the DSM 5 criteria, having an age varying from 19 to 65 years and whose duration of evolution was at least of one year. Have been excluded those in a state of decompensation, presenting a severe organic disease or having a major cognitive impairment. Information was collected from patients and fromtheir medical records using a pre-established questionnaire. The scale of social autonomy (EAS) of Legay with 17 items grouped into 5 dimensions was used for the evaluation. Results The general characteristics of the 360 schizophrenic patients who met the inclusion criteria, revealed an average age of 40.2 years, a sex ratio of 2.33, a majority of single (55.8%), a low level of education(66.7%), an absence of professional activity (67.3%) and a deteriorated socioeconomic level (68.6%).Clinical Characteristics noted an average onset age of the disorder of 26 years, an average duration of evolution of 14 years and a preponderance of the residual type and of the episodic evolutionary course with residual symptoms between episodes respectively in 40.6 and 76.4%. The average of EAS scores were 39.08. Three quarters of the population (75.7%) had a score below 59. 24.3% of patients had scores between 60 and 108 signifying impaired social autonomy. Conclusions The evaluation of effective social autonomy is essential for any therapeutic project considering psychosocial integration and rehabilitation of schizophrenic patients. Disclosure of Interest None Declared