P543 The role of social support on psychological distress and health-related quality of life in adults with mild to moderately active Crohn’s disease

Abstract

Abstract Background Medical and psychological factors contribute to the heightened psychological distress and reduced health-related quality of life in patients with Crohn’s disease. Whether Social Support plays a role in this scenario is unknown. We used the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) to investigate whether Social Support associates with psychological distress and quality of life in Crohn’s disease. Methods Consecutive adult patients with Crohn’s disease, presenting at specialist gastroenterology services or recruited by advertising, with mild to moderate disease activity by the Harvey-Bradshaw Index (HBI), were enrolled into the study. Patients completed the 12-item MSPSS questionnaire that measures psychological support in three categories: Family, Friends and Significant Other, and provides individual category scores and a total score (range of all scores 1–7; a higher score indicates more social support). Patients also completed the following questionnaires: psychological distress (Brief Symptom Inventory, with Global Severity Index, GSI), quality of life (Short Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire, SIBDQ), satisfaction with life (SWLS), family stress (Family Assessment Device, FAD), coping strategies (Brief-COPE), and presenteeism and work activity (WPAI). Statistics: Spearman rho. *p<0.05, **p<0.01. Results The cohort comprised 126 patients, mean (SD) age 33.7 (10.6) years, females 79%, HBI 8.4 (2.5), CRP 1.2 (2.3), calprotectin 394 (674). MSPSS scores were as follows: Total score 5.72 (1.14), Friends 5.36 (1.34), Family 5.73 (1.14), and Significant Other 6.07 (1.15); Cronbach’s α ≥ .877. MSPSS scores correlated negatively with family stress measure FAD: Friends -.258**, Family -.732**, Significant Other -.401**; and with GSI psychological stress measure: Friends -305**, Family -.352**, Significant Other -.245**. MSPSS correlated positively with SIBDQ quality of life: Friends .300**, Family .188*, Significant Other .200*; and with satisfaction with life SWLS: Friends .379**, Family .333**, Significant Other .245**. MSPSS correlations with emotion-focused coping were: Friends -.337**, Family -.263**, Significant Other -.329**. MSPSS Family score correlated negatively with WPAI presenteeism -.270*, and WPAI work activity -.294**. Conclusion In mild to moderate Crohn’s disease, strong social support was associated with better quality of life, more satisfaction with life, and better performance in the work arena. Social support was associated with reduced psychological distress, reduced family stress, and less use of emotion-focused coping. This research shows the importance of social support in improving the psychological condition of patients with Crohn’s disease.