Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijans Association between perceived social support and recovery among patients with schizophrenia Ahmed El-Monshed a ,MostafaAmr b a Department of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing-Mansoura University, Egypt b Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Schizophrenia Recovery Perceived social support ABSTRACT Background: Recoveryfromschizophreniaisarecentconceptthatantagonizesthewellrootedpersuasionofthe impossibility to recover from mental illnesses. Recovery is viewed as the final outcome for schizophrenic pa- tients, implying long term absence of psychiatric symptomatology and suitable occupational and social func- tioning. Aim: Thisstudyaimedtofindouttheassociationbetweenperceivedsocialsupportandrecoveryamongpatients with schizophrenia. Methods: Thestudywascarriedoutusingadescriptivecross-sectionalresearchdesignonaconveniencesample of 176 schizophrenic patients at the department of psychiatry in Mansoura University Hospitals. Three tools were used in the current study. The first was related to socio demographic and clinical features of the studied patients, the second tool was Recovery Assessment Scale–Domains and Stages, and the third tool was Multidimensional perceived social support scale. Results: Both perceived social support subscales and total score had a statistically significant (≤0.001) asso- ciation with recovery. Conclusion: The study provides evidence that the quality of the social support plays an important role in re- covery among schizophrenic patients. Mental health services can provide social inclusion program for schizo- phrenicpatients.Re-buildingofsocialrelationshipsmaybeamajoraimofpsychiatricnursinginterventionsin mental health services. 1. Introduction Schizophrenia is one of the chronic mental illnesses with typical onset in early adulthood or late adolescence (Charlson et al., 2018; Correll,Stanford,Claxton,Du,&Weiden,2018)thataffectnearly1%of the all population during entire life (Hamaideh, Al-Magaireh, Abu- Farsakh, & Al-Omari, 2014). According to a systematic literature re- view,from1990to2013themedianestimateschizophreniaprevalence in29studieswas0.48%(Simeone,Ward,Rotella,Collins,&Windisch, 2015). Psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia were viewed as de- generative and chronic disorders with little prospect of recovery (Davidson, 2016). Historically, according to Kraepelin, only 2.6% of schizophrenic patients experienced a permanent recovery or full, as wellas13%recoveredforalimitedtime.Bleuleralsoclaimedthathe hadneverseenschizophrenicpatientswhorecoveredtothepremorbid adjustment level (Chungetal.,2013). In people with physical illness and disability the idea of recovery has been a central feature of the discourse. However, the concept of recovery from persistent and severe mental illnesses only entered the mental health field in the 1980s which challenged the concept of chronicity (Gemeay & Sabra, 2018). Additionally, prior researches on mental health community for over two decades concluded that the notion of “recovery” had emerged as a dominant force for psychotic illnesses and became a hope in mental illnesses treatment and also a foundation for evidence-based practice (Frostetal.,2017). Recoverycanbedefinedasanattitude,alifemanner,andawayof coping with the day's issues to reestablish a valued and new sense of integrity beyond the limits of the disability. It considers as a self-ap- praised sense of wellness (Hofer et al., 2016; Jacob, 2015). Recovery had been experienced by mentally ill patients as a journey of small meaningfulsteps;characterizedbyadevelopingsenseofautonomyand agency (Boucher, Groleau, & Whitley, 2018). According to the clinical perspective, recovery is an objective ele- ment aimed at returning to the premorbid condition of health, reduc- tionofsymptomsandhospitalization,andimprovingdrugcompliance. Regarding the subjective perspective, recovery drives by individuals' live, peer-support and subjective experience of mental illnesses. Recovery from schizophrenia is an ultimate outcome and a recent concept that antagonizes the well rooted belief of the impossibility to recover from mental illnesses (Bjornestad et al., 2017; Rossi et al., 2018).Asystematicreviewof50researchesindicatedthatthemedian of schizophrenic patients who met social and clinical recovery was https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2020.100236 Received13April2020;Receivedinrevisedform17July2020;Accepted7August2020 International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences 13 (2020) 100236 Available online 18 August 2020 2214-1391/ © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/). T