Investigation of relationships among psychological well-being, perception of social support and social media use of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between psychological well-being, perceptions of social support, self-stigmatization and social media usage characteristics of individuals with schizophrenia. Method: This descriptive and correlation-seeking study was conducted between April-July 2021, among 169 patients with schizophrenia who accepted to participate into the research, who received services in mental health hospitals and community mental health centers affiliated to Istanbul Provincial Health Directorate. Data were collected using individual descriptive characteristics form, self-stigma scale, multidimensional perceived social support scale, social media addiction scale - adult form, and psychological well-being scale. Results: Psychological well-being was found to be significantly higher in those who have a regular job, university graduates, more income than their expenses and do not need to hide their illness in their social media accounts. As the friend and family subscale scores of perceived social supports increased, the psychological well-being score increased. As the perceived worthlessness subscale score of self-stigmatization and virtual tolerance subscale score of social media addiction increased, the psychological well-being score decreased. Conclusion and Suggestions: Psychological well-being is affected positively by social support and negatively by self-stigma. Those who could not tolerate staying away from social media had lower psychological well-being. Most of the participants use social media and are open to support from there. Considering the biopsychosocial aspects of schizophrenia, social media should also be included in the treatment. More studies are needed on this subject.