THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL SUPPORT, INTERNALIZED STIGMA OF MENTAL ILLNESS AND RECOVERY ATTITUDE AMONG PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA IN MAIDUGURI

Purpose: Social support strengthening and hope inspiration about recovery may mitigate stigma of mental illness. The study explored on the level of social support as well as the relationship of social support with internalized stigma and recovery attitude among patients with schizophrenia.   Methodology: Through a cross-sectional design and a convenience sampling method, 282 participants with a diagnosis of schizophrenia completed the study. They were interviewed with the Internalized stigma of Mental illness (ISMI) Scale, Oslo-3 Social Support Scale and Recovery Attitude Questionnaire (RAQ-16). The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18 was used for data entry and analysis and Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to assess for the relationship of social support with internalized stigma and recovery attitude. Findings: Perceived social support was moderate to low in majority of the participants (87.5%). The mean scores for social support, internalized stigma and recovery attitude were 3.111 (± 0.748), 2.580 (± 0.245) and 3.561 (± 0.355) respectively.  Social support significantly and negatively correlated with internalized stigma on the domains of stereotype endorsement (r=-0.270; p-0.000), positively correlated with the stigma resistance subscale (r=0.568; p-0.000) and recovery attitude (r=0.428; p-0.000). A negative correlation between recovery attitude and internalized stigma was observed on the domains of stereotype endorsement (r=-0.249; p-0.000) and stigma resistance (r=0.299; p-0.000). Conclusion: The study showed a high level of perceived low to moderate social support and perceived social support both correlated to internalized stigma and recovery attitude. Recommendations: The outcome of this study indicates that strengthening the social support network may enhance positive recovery attitude and mitigate internalized stigma of mental illness. Therefore, there is need to design and adopt mental health intervention that simultaneously targets stigma, promotes recovery attitude and strengthens social support in the overall treatment plan of individuals living with severe mental illness.