199. Modern poetry mental health care based on emotional expression and social support

Abstract Background Individuals with mental health conditions often exhibit restricted emotional expression, emotional suppression, and insufficient social support, which may lead to persistent negative emotions and aggravated psychological symptoms. Although medication and psychotherapy play significant roles in nursing care, some individuals still face challenges such as inadequate motivation for expression, difficulty in externalizing emotional experiences, and weak social connections, which limit the sustained effectiveness of interventions. In recent years, expressive writing and art therapy have been recognized as effective methods to improve psychological states by promoting emotional expression. Modern poetry, as a concise form of emotional expression, has gradually gained attention in nursing settings. However, existing research primarily focuses on individual expression effects, and systematic examination of the synergistic role of social support factors in poetry creation remains lacking. To this end, the study adopts a randomized grouping and multi-timepoint measurement approach from the perspective of emotional expression and social support integration, aiming to explore the improvement effect of modern poetry nursing intervention based on emotional expression and social support integration on mental health outcomes and its potential mechanisms. Methods The study enrolled 300 nursing patients with emotional distress for initial assessment and randomized them into three 8-week care groups: (1) a modern poetry group (n = 102) integrating emotional expression and social support through poetry creation with shared supportive interactions; (2) an expression-only poetry group (n = 98); and (3) a control group receiving standard psychological care (n = 100). Assessments measured psychological distress severity, emotional expression fluency, perceived social support, and emotional regulation status. Data were collected pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at 3 months. A longitudinal mixed model was used to compare intergroup trends and analyze the role of key psychological variables in symptom changes. The statistical significance level was set at p<.05, and all tests were two-sided. Results The experimental results demonstrated that, compared with the single poetry expression group and the conventional nursing group, the integrated nursing group exhibited a more significant reduction in psychological distress scores at the end of the intervention (p<.001, d = 0.48), with this change remaining consistent during the follow-up period (p=.006). In terms of process-related indicators, the integrated nursing group showed significant improvements in both the clarity and completeness of emotional expression (p=.005, d = 0.42), along with enhanced subjective social support (p=.008, d = 0.39), indicating more positive changes in emotional regulation. Further analysis revealed that the improvement in emotional expression ability and the increase in support were significantly associated with lower levels of psychological distress during the follow-up phase. Discussion Integrating modern poetry with social support elements into mental health care can effectively improve emotional distress and yield lasting benefits. Poetry not only provides an outlet for emotional expression but also creates space for individuals to reinterpret their feelings. The inclusion of social support further enhances the safety and acceptance of emotional expression. This demonstrates that modern poetry serves as a practical and accessible adjunct in mental health care, with its applicability and value for broader implementation to be further validated across diverse populations and care settings.