Social support and quality of life of persons of different social groups and with various levels of psychosocial stress, which are suffering from disorders due to use of alcohol

Abstract

Background. In recent years, researchers’ interest in the social context of the problem of alcohol dependence (AD) has tended to increase. However, to date, there are no enough studies about relationship between the characteristics of social support in patients with AD and the level of psychosocial stress to which they are exposed. Taking into account the specifics of this interaction, we have opportunity significantly increase the effectiveness of AD therapy in conditions of social stress. Also it can become the basis for modifying existing therapeutic and rehabilitation strategies for treating and rehabilitating patients with alcohol dependence.
 Objective – to determine the peculiarities of social support and quality of life of alcohol-dependent patients with varying levels of psychosocial stress.
 Materials and methods. 312 men with alcohol dependence were examined: 107 combatants, 89 forcibly displaced persons and 116 people – civilians living in Kharkiv and Kharkiv region. We used such research methods as clinical, psychopathological, psychodiagnostic and statistical.
 Results. As a result of the work, it has been established that patients with alcohol dependence of all social groups, regardless of the level of psychosocial stress, are characterized by a lack of social support and poor quality of life. Combatants feel the least social support from the family, however, the highest support among all patients is from friends and significant others. The displaced people have stable low support for all its sources. The civilians use bigger support from families than from other sources. As the stress increases, social support is reduced, which is a paradoxical phenomenon, since it is in a situation of severe stress that patients need some support the most.
 Ability to search and acceptance of social support decreases with increasing levels of psychosocial stress, although among forcibly displaced persons it is the lowest regardless of the level of stress experienced by them. Combatants and locals with mild and moderate stress find the need and ability to seek and accept social support, but do not get it to the proper extent, which is an adverse factor in the dynamics of the progression of alcohol dependence and increased stress.
 Among all components of quality of life, in all patients with alcohol addiction, the lowest level of implementation is observed in the field of subjective well-being and a sense of satisfaction from life. The dynamics of quality of life indicators is inversely associated with the level of psychosocial stress: the tendency towards deterioration of the quality of life in all spheres of functioning of patients with alcohol dependence with the increase in the severity of psychosocial stress is established; significantly lower quality of life (both in terms of the integral index and its components) is characteristic for patients with alcohol dependence with a severe level of psychosocial stress, as compared to individuals with mild to moderate stress.
 Conclusions. The revealed regularities should be taken into account when developing treatment, rehabilitation and preventive measures for persons suffering from alcohol dependence.