MENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL SUPPORT FOR GOUT PATIENTS: A CORRELATION STUDY
Objective To explore the mental health and social support as well as analyze the correlation between the two in gout patients.Methods Applying self-made gout disease questionnaire,Kessler Psychological Distress Scale 10 (K10) and Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS),a total of 230 gout patients treated in outpatient departments of two general hospitals in Qing dao were surveyed.Results The average score of K10 was 17.10±4.66,much lower than that in domestic normal population (t =7.060,P < 0.01);the social support scale score was 39.25 ± 7.42,obviously lower than that in Chinese normal population (t =-10.161,P<0.01);correlation analysis showed that the score of K10 was negatively correlated with the total score of the social support,the objective support,the subjective support and the support availability (r=-0.880--0.436,P<0.01).Conclusion The mental health status of gout patients is poor,and social support is low.In clinical work,medical staff should pay attention to the social support of patients and to ease the patients timely according to their mental health status-through increasing social support of patients,improving their mental health status and quality of life.