Social Connectedness in Community Out Patient Adult Women Aging with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

The often debilitating mental disorder of schizophrenia can affect cognition, speech, behavior, and perception. Adult women aging with the diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorders are a vulnerable population, with unique, complex problems that may include both physical and psychological co-morbidities, and their early mortality and increased morbidity have been linked to social isolation and loneliness. In our pilot exploratory interviews with adults aging with schizophrenia spectrum disorders in institutional settings from May 2021 to May 2022 (N = 30), many women participants reported feeling scared, worried, socially isolated, and alone, implying a need for increased social engagement and connectedness (Walker, 2023; Walker & Harrison, 2024). We view these participants as experts in their own health care, and we sought their perceptions to better understand social connectedness from their viewpoint. In this project, we continue our exploration of this population by seeking information from their counterparts who are using community outpatient centers as they age. We seek to explore (a) the life course experiences of women diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders who use community outpatient settings as they age, with a focus on their experiences of social connectedness; (b) their perceptions of how social connectedness is approached in their outpatient settings; and (c) their perceptions of how social connectedness could be improved in and with the help of their outpatient settings. Homogeneous purposive sampling and qualitative analysis of interviews will be used to determine factors related to participants’ perceptions. Our overall purpose is to inform interventions to decrease loneliness and social isolation and to improve social connectedness in adults aging women with the diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorders who use community outpatient settings as they age, but this information may also be helpful to co-create modified interventions for adult women aging in long-term care settings who also experience feelings of loneliness and isolation (Walker & Harrison, 2024; Walker, 2023). This research project represents a step in assisting healthcare professionals to improve health care outcomes among adult women aging with the diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, promoting both their physical and mental health as part of a long-term project to improve their quality of life and provide solutions to the complex problems associated with their condition.