Application of an egocentric social network approach to examine changes in social connections following treatment for anxiety and depression: A novel measurement tool for clinical trials research?

Autor: Rassaby M; San Diego State University/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, United States., Shakya HB; University of California San Diego, United States., Fowler JH; University of California San Diego, United States., Oveis C; University of California San Diego, United States., Sieber WJ; University of California San Diego, United States., Jain S; University of California San Diego, United States., Stein MB; San Diego State University/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, United States; University of California San Diego, United States., Taylor CT; San Diego State University/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, United States; University of California San Diego, United States. Electronic address: c1taylor@health.ucsd.edu.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Social science & medicine (1982) [Soc Sci Med] 2024 Jun; Vol. 350, pp. 116914. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Apr 26.
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116914
Abstrakt: The epidemic of loneliness and social isolation has been recognized as a public health crisis warranting the same prioritization as other public health issues today, such as obesity, substance use disorders, and tobacco use. Social disconnection is particularly prevalent and disabling among individuals with anxiety and depression, yet it is inadequately evaluated and addressed in most clinical psychology treatment research. Studies generally employ global measures of perceived connectedness, loneliness, or relationship satisfaction, limiting understanding about elements of one's social network that may change with treatment. This study examined changes in the degree (number of people nominated) and quality of one's social network from pre-to post-treatment using an egocentric social network approach in 59 adults (mean age = 30.8 years, range = 18 to 54) with clinically elevated anxiety or depression who were randomized to a cognitive and behavioral positive valence treatment versus waitlist. Participants (egos) named people in their lives (alters) with whom they discussed important issues or spent free time. For each alter, participants rated how close they felt, how close they thought the alter felt to them, and how frequently they communicated. Linear regressions, which included treatment group as a predictor, revealed no group differences in changes in network degree, perceived alter feelings of closeness, or communication frequency, despite prior findings from this sample indicating larger increases in perceived global connectedness in the treatment group. Unexpectedly, the control group reported a greater increase in perceived closeness to alters. Post-hoc analyses revealed this was explained by the treatment group identifying more distal social ties (e.g., extended family, colleagues, roommates) as alters following treatment - an outcome positively associated with global improvements in connectedness. This proof-of-concept study suggests egocentric social network surveys may provide unique information on treatment-related changes in social functioning. Suggestions are provided for adaptations to facilitate application of social network surveys to mental health treatment research.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Charles T Taylor declares that in the past 3 years he has been a paid consultant for Bionomics and has received payment for editorial work for UpToDate, Inc. and the journal Depression and Anxiety. Madeleine Rassaby, Holly B Shakya, James H Fowler, Christopher Oveis, William J Sieber, and Sonia Jain declare no conflicts of interest. Murray B Stein declares that in the past 3 years he has received consulting income from Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Aptinyx, atai Life Sciences, BigHealth, Biogen, Bionomics, BioXcel Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Clexio, Eisai, EmpowerPharm, Engrail Therapeutics, Janssen, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, NeuroTrauma Sciences, PureTech Health, Sage Therapeutics, Sumitomo Pharma, and Roche/Genentech. Dr. Stein has stock options in Oxeia Biopharmaceuticals and EpiVario. He has been paid for his editorial work on Depression and Anxiety (Editor-in-Chief), Biological Psychiatry (Deputy Editor), and UpToDate (Co-Editor-in-Chief for Psychiatry). He has also received research support from NIH, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Defense. He is on the scientific advisory board for the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. All procedures performed involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of California San Diego Human Research Protection Program and with the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki).
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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