14. The impact of community physical education based on social support theory on the social function of patients with emotional disorders

Abstract Background Patients with emotional disorders often have social dysfunction, which seriously affects their recovery. The integration of sports activities and social interaction in community sports education is expected to provide a supportive environment, but its specific effects on patients' social function urgently need empirical testing. The research aims to explore the promoting effect and mechanism of community physical education on the social function of patients with emotional disorders based on this theory. Methods The study employed randomized controlled trials. The study recruited 86 patients with stable emotional disorders and social dysfunction, and randomly divided them into an intervention group and a control group (43 patients in each group). The control group maintained regular services; On this basis, the intervention group received a structured community physical education course for 12 weeks, twice a week. The course is designed based on social support theory and includes team collaboration, communicative activities, and social games. It is led by trained instructors and counselors to create a supportive atmosphere. Before intervention, immediately after intervention, and 3 months after intervention, the "Social Function Scale" and "Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support" were used for evaluation, and interactive process indicators were recorded. The data analysis adopts repeated measures analysis of variance and covariance analysis. Results After intervention, the specific comparison results between the intervention group and the control group in various dimensions of social function and perceived social support are shown in Table 1. As shown in Table 1, repeated measures ANOVA showed that the interaction effect between time and group was significant in terms of social interaction frequency and interpersonal relationship satisfaction (F (2,162) = 15.438, p<.001); F (2,162) = 12.767, p<.001). The improvement trend of the intervention group continued from T1 to T2 follow-up period. Process indicators show that the number of active interactions among intervention group patients in the course increased from an average of 3.2 times per week in the initial stage to 8.7 times in the final stage. Discussion Research has confirmed that community physical education based on social support theory can effectively improve the social functioning and perceived social support of patients with emotional disorders. The mechanism lies in the collaboration, sense of group belonging, and guidance during the activity, which together build a supportive network and promote a positive transformation of social behavior patterns. The research sample and follow-up time are limited, and further validation is needed in the future.