46 POSITIVE BENEFITS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ON THE RECOVERY OF SOCIAL FUNCTIONING IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA
Authors: Li Qinjia 
Published: February 2025

Abstract

Background
Schizophrenia belongs to a kind of chronic and serious mental illness, which usually manifests itself as abnormalities in sensation, perception, emotion and behaviour, causing serious impact on patients’ life and work. Medication, psychotherapy, social support and other interventions are often used to help patients better adapt to the social environment and improve their quality of life. However, due to the complex pathogenesis and individual differences of schizophrenia, the intervention effect of existing treatments is limited. Existing studies have shown that regular physical activity can promote the plasticity of neurons in the brain, enhance the formation of connection points between neurons, and promote blood circulation in the brain, improve the metabolism and function of neurons, and promote the generation and stabilisation of synapses. However, the role of physical activity in the social functioning of schizophrenic patients remains to be confirmed. Therefore, the study examined whether the positive benefits of physical activity as an intervention for schizophrenia could be extended to the level of social functioning.

Methods
Sixty subjects who met the Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria for Mental Disorders (ICD-10) criteria for schizophrenia were divided equally into an experimental group and a control group; patients in the control group received conventional treatment, and the experimental group received physical activity therapy intervention on top of conventional treatment for a 6-month intervention period. The experimental group and the control group received the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS), the Social Anxiety Subscale (SAS), the Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP), and the Social Performance Scale (SPS), respectively, before the intervention and at the 2nd, 4th, and 6th months after the intervention. and Social Performance Scale (PSP), Scale of Social function in Psychosis Inpatients (SSPI), and Social Disability Screening Schedule (SDSS) were measured.

Results
Compared with the control group, the total SADS scores of the patients in the experimental group decreased significantly after the physical activity intervention (P&lt;0.05) from (13.511±2.646) to (6.456±2.766); and there was a significant statistical difference (P&lt;0.01), and the social interaction function of the experimental group was significantly improved. In the social function analysis, starting from the 4th month of physical activity intervention, there was a significant difference in PSP scores between the experimental group and the control group (P&lt;0.05), and the experimental group’s scores were higher than those of the control group. In addition, the SDSS scale scores of the control group did not change significantly before and after the treatment (P&gt;0.05), while the SDSS scores of the experimental group increased from (15.462±3.146) to (20.164±2.694), which was significantly different from the pre-intervention (P&lt;0.05). Finally, there was a significant difference (P&lt;0.05) in SDSS scores between the different subject groups.

Discussion
Relative to the control group that received conventional treatment, physical activity produced positive positive benefits on the social functioning of the patients in the experimental group, with significant improvements in social avoidance, social distress, and social motivation. The study suggests that by participating in physical activities, patients can gradually establish positive interactions with others and enhance their sense of social belonging. Combined with previous studies, the results suggest that in the treatment of schizophrenia, physical activity can be considered as one of the adjunctive therapies in order to improve the therapeutic efficacy and the quality of life of patients.