(PS1-83) Enhancing Familial Support to Mitigate Depression: A Study on Family Satisfaction and Depressive Symptomatology

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of familial support on depressive symptoms. Participants (N= 20) were recruited from an intensive outpatient treatment program that specializes in treating complex patients with multiple comorbidities. Each participant completed at least two months of treatment and were instructed to complete the Quality of Live Inventory (QOLI) and Beck Depression Inventory—Second Edition (BDIn) during their first and last visit. The study sample was comprised of primarily white (n=14) and female (n=12) participants, ranging in age from 20 to 59 years old (M= 30.5, SD= 11.87). Using the QOLI, participants were initially categorized into two groups based on their family satisfaction subscale score: those with high family satisfaction scores (7 and above) and those with low family satisfaction scores (6 and below). Only participants who reported low family satisfaction during their initial visit were included in the study. Using this information, participants were divided into two final groups: those whose family satisfaction scores improved from low to high (FSLH) between their first and last visits, and those whose scores remained low (FSLL). BDI-II scores for both groups were moderate to severe at the initial visit (FSLH; BDI First Visit, M= 31.36, SD= 9.30) and (FSLL; BDI First Visit, M= 36.33, SD= 8.92). A t-test was conducted to compare BDI scores at last visit for individuals with improved family satisfaction and those with no improvement in family satisfaction (FSLH; BDI Last Visit, M= 15.64, SD =14.548) and (FSLL; Last Visit, M= 32.89, SD= 11.107). The 11 participants who showed improvement in family satisfaction scores compared to the 9 participants who did not show improvement in family satisfaction scores showed significantly lower BDI scores at the end of treatment, t(18)= 2.923, p= .009. Levene’s test for quality of variances was significant, F(1,18)= 1.348, p= .261, and the Shapiro-Wilkes test for normality was also significant, W= .940, p= .237, suggesting that the data met the necessary assumptions for a t-test. Of the 11 individuals in the family satisfaction improvement group, 9 had familial participation in therapy (82%) and of the 9 individuals in the no family satisfaction improvement group, only 5 had familial participation in therapy (56%). The findings reveal that individuals who experienced an increase in familial satisfaction from first to last visit show substantial improvement in depressive symptoms compared to those whose family satisfaction scores remained unchanged. Participation of family in patient therapy appears to moderate this relationship. This outcome underscores the importance of family relationships and suggests that family participation in therapy plays an important role in mitigating depressive symptoms. Research on the relationship between these variables with larger sample sizes is needed.