Different Sources Of Support Research Articles

Health literacy and the social determinants of health: a qualitative model from adult learners.

Health literacy, ‘the personal characteristics and social resources needed for individuals and communities to access, understand, appraise and use information and services to make decisions about health’, is key to improving peoples’ control over modifiable social determinants of health (SDH). This study listened to adult learners to understand their perspectives on gathering, understanding and using information for health. This qualitative project recruited participants from community skills courses to identify relevant ‘health information’ factors. Subsequently different learners put these together to develop a model of their ‘Journey to health’. Twenty-seven participants were recruited; twenty from community health literacy courses and seven from an adult basic literacy and numeracy course. Participants described health as a ‘journey’ starting from an individual's family, ethnicity and culture. Basic (functional) health literacy skills were needed to gather and understand information. More complex interactive health literacy skills were needed to evaluate the importance and relevance of information in context, and make health decisions. Critical health literacy skills could be used to adapt negative external factors that might inhibit health-promotion. Our model is an iterative linear one moving from ethnicity, community and culture, through lifestyle, to health, with learning revisited in the context of different sources of support. It builds on existing models by highlighting the importance of SDH in the translation of new health knowledge into healthy behaviours, and the importance of health literacy in enabling people to overcome barriers to health.

Typologies of Social Support and Associations with Mental Health Outcomes Among LGBT Youth.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth show increased risk for a number of negative mental health outcomes, which research has linked to minority stressors such as victimization. Further, social support promotes positive mental health outcomes for LGBT youth, and different sources of social support show differential relationships with mental health outcomes. However, little is known about how combinations of different sources of support impact mental health. In the present study, we identify clusters of family, peer, and significant other social support and then examine demographic and mental health differences by cluster in an analytic sample of 232 LGBT youth between the ages of 16 and 20 years. Using k-means cluster analysis, three social support cluster types were identified: high support (44.0% of participants), low support (21.6%), and non-family support (34.5%). A series of chi-square tests were used to examine demographic differences between these clusters, which were found for socio-economic status (SES). Regression analyses indicated that, while controlling for victimization, individuals within the three clusters showed different relationships with multiple mental health outcomes: loneliness, hopelessness, depression, anxiety, somatization, general symptom severity, and symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD). Findings suggest the combinations of sources of support LGBT youth receive are related to their mental health. Higher SES youth are more likely to receive support from family, peers, and significant others. For most mental health outcomes, family support appears to be an especially relevant and important source of support to target for LGBT youth.

Burnout scolaire et soutien social : l’importance du soutien des parents et des enseignants

Several authors emphasized the importance of considering social support within a dimensional perspective and have shown the protective role of different sources of support against school adaptation difficulties in adolescence. The aim of this study is to identify sources of support associated with school burnout, which was recently described, as a syndrome of exhaustion due to school demands, cynical and detached attitudes toward school and feelings of inadequacy as a student. A total of 441 adolescents were recruited in two mainstream middle schools from the French part of Switzerland. They were asked to answer a questionnaire including a French version of the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASSS-f) and a previously validated French version of the School Burnout Inventory. Preliminary analyses were conducted to test the psychometric properties of the CASSS-f. Results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the CASSS-f has the same structure than its original version and thus, allows estimating social support from several sources (i.e. parent, teacher, classmates, close friend and school). Moreover, most of the CASSS-f subscales showed satisfactory internal consistency coefficients. Main analyses consisted of correlational and regression analysis. Results showed that parent support, teacher support and school support are negatively associated to school burnout, with weak to moderate correlations. Results also showed that parent support is a negative predictor of school burnout after controlling for background variables. These results are discussed along with the implications for future research and for prevention of school burnout.

Unmarried women’s ways of facing single motherhood in Sri Lanka – a qualitative interview study

BackgroundIn Sri Lanka, motherhood within marriage is highly valued. Sex out of wedlock is socially unacceptable and can create serious public health problems such as illegal abortions, suicide and infanticide, and single motherhood as a result of premarital sex is considered shameful. The way unmarried women facing single motherhood reflect on and make use of their agency in their social environments characterised by limited social and financial support has consequences for the health and well-being of both themselves and their children. The aim of this study was to explore and describe how unmarried women facing single motherhood in Sri Lanka handle their situation.MethodsThis qualitative study comprised semi-structured interviews with 28 unmarried pregnant women or single mothers. The data were analysed by qualitative content analysis and the results related to the conceptual framework of social navigation.ResultsThe women facing single motherhood expressed awareness of having trespassed norms of sexuality through self-blame, victimhood and obedience, and by considering or attempting suicide. They demonstrated willingness to take responsibility for becoming pregnant before marriage by giving the child up for adoption, bringing up the child themselves, claiming a father for their child, refraining from marriage in the future, permanently leave their home environment, and taking up employment. Throughout the interviews, the women expressed fear of shame, and striving for familial and societal acceptance and financial survival.ConclusionsA social environment highly condemning of unmarried motherhood hindered these women from making strategic choices on how to handle their situation. However, to achieve acceptance and survival, the women tactically navigated norms of femininity, strong family dependence, a limited work market, and different sources of support. Limited access to resources restricted the women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, including their ability to make acceptable and healthy choices for themselves and their children.

Spiritual support for people living with HIV/AIDS: A Brazilian explorative, descriptive study

In this exploratory and descriptive research, we identified the meaning of religion and spirituality in the experience of patients at a public health service for treatment of HIV/AIDS in a Brazilian upcountry town. Eight participants were selected through theoretical sampling. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, and analyzed by means of qualitative content analysis. The emerging themes were religion: a path to support, and God is everything. Religion, as a path that leads patients to different sources of support, included exploration of different churches, acknowledgment of guilt, and finding strength to cope with the disease, rationalization of the disease process, meeting other churchgoers, and finding God and faith. God, an important source of support, was present in prayers, in the belief in healing through faith, and in the feeling of comfort and relief. Because spirituality and religion were seen as important sources of support, in this study we that health professionals include these aspects in care planning.

A Guide to Costing and Funding Intensive Care Trials in the United Kingdom

This paper provides a guide to the different sources of support for research available in the United Kingdom, and clarifies how these relate to different aspects of a research study in intensive care. It lists the different activities and elements that need to be considered when planning a research study to ensure that it is appropriately resourced, documents how funding for the different research costs and activities should be sought, and gives practical advice regarding how to accurately and realistically cost an intensive care trial.

Associations between received social support and positive and negative affect: evidence for age differences from a daily-diary study.

Recent evidence suggests negative associations between received social support and emotional well-being. So far, these studies mainly focused on younger adults. Quantity and quality of social support changes with age; therefore, this study investigated whether there are age differences regarding the association between received social support and positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). Moreover, it was tested whether these age effects might be due to a differential effectiveness of different sources of support for younger and older individuals. Forty-two individuals (21 younger adults, aged 21-40 and 21 older adults, aged 61-73) completed 30-daily diaries on their received social support, PA/NA and the sources of support provision. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Results indicated age-related differential effects: for younger individuals, received social support was negatively associated with indicators of emotional well-being, whereas these associations were positive for older respondents. Regarding NA, these effects held when testing lagged predictions and controlling for previous-day affect. No age differences emerged regarding the associations between different sources of support and indicators of affect. Conceptual implications of these age-differential findings are discussed.

Two Contrasting Models for Mentoring as They Affect Retention of Beginning Teachers

Research indicates that mentoring programs help increase the retention of beginning teachers. School administrators may be presented with competing mentoring models, with various sources and types of support, aimed at improving beginning teacher retention. This study collected both qualitative and quantitative data under the rubric of a comparative case study method to investigate mentoring models in the Asher and Dane School Districts (pseudonyms). Using this approach, the authors explored the two distinct models related to beginning teacher retention. Although both districts used collaborative teams, in-school mentors, and principals within the context of professional learning communities to participate in the mentoring of beginning teachers, only the Dane School District employed district “coaches.” Findings from this research suggest that these “coaches” were not as effective as in-school mentors or collaborative teams in increasing retention, possibly because of lack of proximity and personal relationship. Additional findings describe and explain mentoring characteristics and different sources of support that benefited the mentoring experience and subsequent retention of beginning teachers.

Social Support and Coping Adaptability in Initial Military Training

Social support and coping adaptability were explored as factors leading to successful outcomes in initial military training. Hierarchical regression and bootstrapping of indirect effects were used to explore these relationships in a sample of 2,293 New Zealand Defence Force trainees. Support from instructors was related to lower difficulty coping and higher performance and military belonging. Support from external sources was related to higher coping adaptability, performance, military belonging, and, paradoxically, increased difficulty coping. Coping adaptability mediated the beneficial effects of external support. Resources provided by different sources of support, applications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

Main and interactive effects of social support in predicting mental health symptoms in men and women following military stressor exposure

Evidence across a multitude of contexts indicates that social support is associated with reduced risk for mental health symptoms. More information is needed on the effectiveness of different sources of support, as well as sex differences in support. Associations between social support from two sources – the military unit and friends and family – and mental health symptoms were examined in a study of 1571 Marine recruits assessed at the beginning and end of a highly stressful 13-week training program. Military social support buffered the stressor exposure–posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS) relationship, whereas the relationship between stressor exposure and PTSS was highest when civilian social support was high. Further inspection of the interactions revealed that military support was most important at high levels of stressor exposure. Sex differences in the relationship between social support and symptoms were found, such that support from military peers was associated with lower levels of PTSS for men, whereas civilian support was associated with lower PTSS for women. While civilian social support was associated with lower levels of depression symptom severity in both women and men, the relationship was stronger for women. Reviewed implications focus on the importance of considering the recipient, source, and context of social support.

Roles of Different Sources of Social Support on Caries Experience and Caries Increment in Adolescents of East London

Evidence on the contribution of social support to oral health is scarce. We first explored the association of social support with caries experience and the relative roles of support from family, friends and a special person on caries experience in 15–16-year-old adolescents. We then explored whether social support at 11–12 years of age predicts caries increment in second permanent molars over 4 years and the relative roles of different sources of support on 4-year caries increment. Data from phases 1 and 3 of the Research with East London Adolescents Community Health Survey (RELACHS), a school-based prospective study of a representative sample of adolescents in East London, were used for cross-sectional (phase 3) and longitudinal analyses (phases 1 and 3). Data were collected by questionnaires including the same questions on demographic characteristics, socioeconomic measures and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support at phases 1 and 3. A questionnaire section on dental behaviours and an oral clinical examination were also included in phase 3. Social support was negatively related to both caries experience and increment independently of demographic characteristics, socioeconomic measures and dental behaviours. Furthermore, only support from a special person was significantly related to caries experience and increment in unadjusted and adjusted regression models. In conclusion, adolescents who perceived higher levels of social support had lower caries experience and increment. However, support from a special person was more relevant for these adolescents than support from family and peers.

Pathways through Sex Work: Childhood Experiences and Adult Identities

Jane Dodsworth is a Lecturer in Social Work at the University of East Anglia. She worked previously as the Inter-Agency Development Officer for Norfolk Area Child Protection Committee and is a former social worker with experience in residential care and in generic and child and family social work teams. She teaches social work practice skills to qualifying and post-qualifying social workers. Her current research interests are in child sexual exploitation and women involved in sex work, the analysis of Serious Case Reviews and the evaluation of the implementation of a web-based service to improve communication with and Abstract Drawing on a qualitative study exploring the stories of twenty-four women involved in sex work in the UK, this paper discusses whether it is possible to identify key risk and pro- tective factors influencing involvement. It argues that, although age at first involvement is an important factor in influencing outcome, so also are experiences of childhood and adult adversity. Early damaging experiences, which may increase the likelihood of invol- vement, also affect the ability to deal with the experience of sex work and simul- taneously 'manage' other life experiences. What is crucial in identifying who is likely to be the most vulnerable are the accumulation of risk factors in early childhood and the personal and ecological resources available to individuals across the lifespan to manage that pathway. How these factors are managed determines the degree of victim- hood or agency, vulnerability or resilience individuals perceive they have and the route taken through sex work as a consequence. The study identified three different groups of women who reported different pathways, reflecting different sources of support and coping strategies. This analysis suggests that there is a need to facilitate the provision of 'secure base' interventions for women involved in sex work, whatever their age, which have meaning for them.

Perception of need and barriers to access: the mental health needs of young people attending a Youth Offending Team in the UK

This study used a mixed methodology with young offenders attending a Youth Offending Service to identify, with regard to mental health problems, perceptions of level of need, experiences of and views on support and perceptions of barriers in accessing services. Between May and September 2008, 44 young offenders completed a questionnaire about their self-reported levels of mental health need, and their behaviour, preferences and evaluation regarding different sources of support and advice for mental health issues. Six young people were interviewed about their experiences and these data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings showed that these vulnerable young people had a high level of mental health need, and were most likely to seek support from people with whom they had a confiding and long-standing relationship (parents and friends). For these young people, low levels of service use were not the result of a lack of provision, but because there were psychological, social, structural and cultural barriers to accessing those services including issues of understanding, stigma and confidentiality.

Expectations of later life support among lesbian and gay Queenslanders

To examine lesbian and gay people's expectations of support, socialising and cohabitation in older age. The study involved secondary data analysis of a subsample of 371 lesbian and gay people taken from a survey conducted by the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities. Lesbian and gay people expected to receive support from diverse sources, including same-sex partners, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender friends and heterosexual friends. Women were more likely to expect to receive support from others than men, and men were more likely to expect to live alone in later life. Aged care providers need to be responsive to the different sources of support that may be provided to older lesbian and gay people. Services that are lesbian- and gay-friendly may facilitate service uptake and reduce pressures on lesbian and gay people's informal networks of support.

Obstacles and supports related to the use of educational technologies: the role of technological expertise, gender, and age

In order for institutions of higher education to provide essential technology resources and encourage the adoption of educational technologies, it is vital to gather information about the barriers their users encounter and the supports they find most helpful. The purpose of this study is to better understand how differences in user traits (e.g., age, gender, and technological expertise) may be impacting the use of technologies to support instruction. In this study, we report data from a university-wide survey of faculty at the University of Washington (N = 547). Study results indicate that individuals with technical expertise at the “beginner” level rely on different sources of support and encounter different barriers than do individuals at the “expert” level, even after controlling for gender and age. Our data demonstrate the importance of recognizing the range of expertise that exist among users when assessing barriers and implementing programs to support faculty in the adoption of educational technologies.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AMONG DEPRESSED GERIATRIC OUTPATIENTS

Failure to demonstrate an effect of social support on outcome among geriatric patients may be due to use of measures that do not reflect the multidimensional nature of support. The authors examined the impact of different types of social support as well as different sources of support on the symptomatic improvement of 25 depressed geriatric outpatients at 3-month follow up. Controlling for initial depression severity, intensity of antidepressant treatment, perceived health, and presence of a personality disorder, the following types of social support predicted symptomatic improvement in separate regression models: instrumental support (partial r=−0.70; P=0.002) and subjective support (partial r=−0.58; P=0.015). In contrast, social interaction frequency and size of the social network failed to predict outcome. Further analyses examined source of support: correlations controlling for initial depression severity suggested that patient perception of the family environment was associated with outcome (partial r of perceived support from family=−0.54; P=0.007; partial r of perceived stress from family=0.44; P=0.030), whereas perception of the social environment of their friends and acquaintances was not. Results indicate that, contrary to studies using aggregate measures of social support, certain aspects of support strongly predict symptomatic recovery among geriatric outpatients with major depression.

Uses of support in an evolving war event

Examines the relationship between sources and functions of support in the context of an evolving stressful event – the Gulf War. Data were obtained through questionnaires filled out by 261 parents sampled throughout comprehensive schools located in two different areas of Israel (damaged and undamaged by missile attacks). Respondents assessed the extent of support received from a list of sources, designated three preferred sources, and rated the amount of informational, instrumental and/or emotional support provided by these referred sources, at three different periods of the event: waiting, impact and recovery. Findings indicate that different sources of support, fulfilling different functions, were utilized over the course of the event, and that changes in sources and functions were related to the changing circumstances of the war. Gives empirical validation to the concept of matching the evolution of a stressful event to specific uses of social support. Considers implications for social work practice.

Mothers' and Fathers' Perceptions of Family Functioning in Families Having Children With Disabilities

The present research investigated the relationship between mothers' and fathers' perceptions of family functioning in a sample of parents having children with disabilities using the Family Support Scale, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale, and the Comprehensive Evaluation of Family Functioning. Analyses were conducted at the subscale and item level using a multivariate framework. Results support previous research indicating that mothers and fathers have different perceptions of family functioning, identify different stressors, and report different sources of support as helpful. Additionally, internal consistency reliability analyses for mothers and fathers suggests that some subscales should be interpreted with caution for fathers. Implications for early intervention services and assessment with this population are discussed.

Informal and Formal Care: Exploring the Complementarity

ABSTRACTAlthough several authors have speculated about the type of relationship between informal and formal care, relatively little empirical work directly examines the interface between the two support systems. This paper examines the correlates of using neither system, only one system and several combinations of both systems. It explores the characteristics of those who do and do not make complementary use of both systems and under what circumstances the two systems are complementary. Multivariate analyses are performed, using logistic regression analyses, to examine the correlates of the different sources of support. Analyses demonstrate that those who utilize the formal care system do so while retaining care from the informal network. Use of the formal system in conjunction with informal care appears to take place in two instances:when seniors are in need and critical elements of their informal network are lacking, or when they have an intact informal support network, but their health needs are extremely high. In both of these instances the formal system enters to assist the informal network. The data point to the complementarity of the two care systems, not in terms of task specificity, but rather, in terms of a sharing of overall task load.

Role Reversals in the Exchange of Social Support

We tested the assumption that there is a role reversal in exchanges of social support: that the older one becomes, the less likely one is to send support and more likely one is to receive it. Using data from a community study in Southern California with 513 middle-aged and older respondents, the results show that both support-sending and support-receiving decline with age. The respondents report giving more support than they receive until age 85+. Controls for income and activities of daily living extend the age at which role reversal occurs, and further controls for the number of people in the social network eliminate it. Examining different types of support and different sources of support shows that similar results apply to both affective and instrumental support, but that this pattern applies more to exchanges with family members, as all forms of role reversal are less likely in exchanges with nonfamily.