The Social Health of People with Severe Mental Illness

The Social Health cohort study will explore how the quality and diversity of people’s social networks and social interactions influences their quality of life, symptom severity and capacity to go about their day to day lives. The study aims to recruit 600 people with major depressive disorder, bipolar or schizophrenia/ schizoaffective disorder from diverse regions across the UK.

Background

The Social Cohort study forms part of the Social Health Hub, a multidisciplinary programme of work within the UKRI Mental Health Platform. The Social Health Hub aims to generate new knowledge on how the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age influence how severe mental illnesses (SMI) affect people over time, and shape how they respond to their conditions. People with SMI often live more socially isolated lives and tend to have smaller social networks than people in the general population. 

Studies suggest that good social support may help people with SMI to cope with everyday stresses and contribute to better quality of life, improved functioning and being better able to manage their symptoms. However, approaches to treatment for people with SMI are typically centred around what happens in the clinic. Very few approaches target the social factors which in many cases were there before the illness began and continue to affect people’s quality of life even after treatment.

This study aims to understand more about how factors like being around other people, being part of groups or clubs within the community or feeling supported by friends or family might lead to meaningful improvements for people with severe mental illness. The study will also examine how social support affects the symptoms of mental illness, by analysing blood and saliva samples to understand the underlying biology.

 

Approach

The Social Health Cohort Study will recruit adults (18-65 years old) who are receiving specialised care for their mental health condition from NHS trusts across the UK.

Participants will be followed up over 12 months to explore the influence of social factors on their day-to-day management of their mental health. Participants will first map out their personal social networks, detailing the people, groups, and places that hold significance in their lives. Then, over the course of the year, participants will provide real-time data during seven-day intervals using their mobile phones.

This method, known as Ecological Momentary Assessment, involves participants recording their social interactions, activities and how they are feeling. The rich data gathered will be analysed alongside changes in participants’ quality of life, symptoms and day to day coping over the study period. We will also collect blood and saliva samples so that we can begin to explore biological pathways which may help to explain the link between social factors and mental health outcomes for people with SMI.

 

Intended outputs

 We will use findings from this study to develop and test approaches that focus on social factors, such as social prescribing and social action groups. We will advocate for wider adoption of the approaches that evidence from this study supports.

Team

Chief Investigator: Professor Jennifer Lau Queen Mary University London

Study manager: Dr Helen Buxton Queen Mary University London

Lived experience co-applicant: John Gibson (McPin)

Co-investigators:

Dr. Livia Carvalho (QMUL)
Prof. Stefan Priebe (QMUL)
Dr. Alison Copeland (Newcastle university)
Prof. Domenico Giacco (Warwick University)
Prof. Francisco Rowe (Liverpool University)
Prof. Craig Morgan (KCL)
Dr. Raquel Iniesta (KCL)
Prof. Richard Byng (Plymouth university)
Dr. Kerryn Husk (Plymouth university)
Prof. Rose McCabe (City)
Prof. Veena Kumari (Brunel)