Contemporary Nursing

Objective To explore the clinical effect of an emotion connection model based on painting therapy on improving negative symptoms, social function, emotional expression ability, and quality of life in patients with chronic schizophrenia. Methods A total of 86 patients with chronic schizophrenia from the Rehabilitation Department of a city mental health center were selected as the study subjects between February 2023 and February 2024. They were randomly divided into a control group (n=43) and an observation group (n=43) using a random number table method. The control group received conventional rehabilitation training, while the observation group received a 12-week group intervention based on the "Emotion Connection Model via Painting Therapy" in addition to the conventional training. Assessments were conducted before and after the intervention using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) negative subscale, Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Scale (WHOQOL-BREF). Results After 12 weeks of intervention, the observation group showed significantly lower PANSS negative symptom scores and TAS-20 total and subscale scores compared to the control group (P<0.01). Meanwhile, the PSP scores and the psychological, social relationship, and environmental domain scores of the WHOQOL-BREF were significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group (P<0.01). Conclusion The emotion connection model based on painting therapy can effectively alleviate negative symptoms, reduce the degree of alexithymia, enhance social function, and comprehensively improve the subjective quality of life in patients with chronic schizophrenia. It is an effective psychosocial rehabilitation intervention with high clinical promotion value.

Painting therapy; Emotion connection; Chronic schizophrenia; Rehabilitation nursing; Negative symptoms; Quality of life