Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire Research Articles

Relationships among epilepsy, social stigma, self-esteem, and social support

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the social stigma of epilepsy on self-esteem and social support. It was hypothesized that people with epilepsy have low self-esteem and impaired social support networks. Twenty-eight participants responded to the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, and a Knowledge about Epilepsy Questionnaire. Although the first hypothesis was not supported, the variance of scores on the RSES was significantly greater than normal, indicating a disproportionate number of high and low scorers. Low scores were attributed to stigma and high scores to pride in overcoming it. Similarly, hypothesis 2 was not supported, but social support networks were restricted to family, neighbors, and health-care providers, who compensated for any lack in friends and work associates. Multiple regression analysis showed that self-esteem correlated positively with knowledge about epilepsy and negatively with seizure rate and anticonvulsant dosage, in that order. No relationship was found between self-esteem and age of onset, education, employment, or socioeconomic or marital status. It was concluded that education about epilepsy is the most effective enhancer of self-esteem in people with epilepsy and that their social support networks may be restricted to family, neighbors, and health-care providers, who compensate for a lack in friends and work associates. Further research on the relationship between anticonvulsant dosage, self-esteem, and related psychological factors is planned.

Personality adjustment and social support of parents who care for children with pervasive developmental disorders

The goal of this study was to examine the degree of personality adjustment and perceived social support of parents who care for children with pervasive developmental disorders. Data were collected with the California Q-Set (a personality measure) and the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire. Personality adjustment of the parents was found to be significantly less than optimal, with a high degree of anxiety, minimal ego resilience, and use of defensive coping processes. Siblings of the child with the disorder and mothers of the parents were those most frequently identified as providing support to the caregiver, although friends, special education teachers, and daycare staff were the individuals whose support was most significantly related to greater amounts of perceived affection and affirmation, tangible aid, and concrete caregiving assistance. In fact, the more the caregivers depended upon their famillies for support, the less well adjusted were the caregivers on the personality measure. The implications of the findings for caregivers and their families are discussed.

Loneliness and social support of mothers of chronically ill children

To address the problem of loneliness and social support in mothers of chronically ill children, we interviewed 90 mothers, among them 33 whose children suffered from a chronic life-threatening disease and 57 whose children had a chronic illness. In addition, we conducted home interviews with a control group of 92 mothers of healthy children. In responding to questions on the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, the mothers of children with either chronic life-threatening or chronic illness revealed higher loneliness than the mothers of healthy children. Larger social networks and perceived greater support was reported by mothers whose children had a chronic life-threatening disease. In this group, no significant relationship was found between the variables of loneliness and social support; whereas, in the group with chronically ill children, and in the controls, a significant inverse relationship between the two variables was noted. Mothers of children with chronic life-threatening diseases may become subject to higher existential loneliness.

The relationships between social skills, social support, self‐esteem and burden in adult caregivers

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between social skills, self-esteem, social support and burden in a sample of adult caregivers. The Gambrill and Richey Assertion Inventory, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, Montgomery's Objective and Subjective Burden Scale, Norbeck's Social Support Questionnaire and Sarason's Social Support Questionnaire were administered to a convenience sample of 31 caregivers. Unassertive caregivers had less available social support. Those caregivers who felt more discomfort in situations also had less available social support. Caregivers who had significantly more affection, affirmation and aid from within their social network were found to have higher self-esteem. Those with lower self-esteem reported losing a greater number of important relationships in the past year. Nonassertive caregivers were more likely to experience lower subjective burden.

Social support for women during chronic illness: The relationship among sources and types to adjustment

The purpose of this study was to explore who in the network provided what type of support in relation to psychosocial adjustment for women experiencing chronic illness. The Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire was administered to 125 chronically ill women, along with measures of depression (CES-D), family illness demands (Demands of Illness Inventory), marital quality (Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale), and family functioning (FACES-II). Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to examine the average amount of support from four main sources: partner, family, friends, and others. Women perceived more support from the partner than from any other source. Family members provided more affective support than friends or others. Friends provided more affirmation than family or others. After the partner, women reported confiding about their illness more to health care providers, counselors, or religious personnel than family or friends. Pearson correlation coefficients were computed for the amount of support from each source and the measures of individual, dyadic, or family adjustment. In general, affect, affirmation, and reciprocity from both the partner and family were associated with less depression, higher marital quality, and better family functioning.

The Relationship of Hardiness and Social Support to Student Appraisal of Stress in an Initial Clinical Nursing Situation

The stressful nature of the clinical experience of nursing students was examined within the context of Lazarus' theory of cognitive appraisal of stress. The students' evaluation of their initial medical-surgical clinical experience as a threat or a challenge was determined along with the hypothesized mediating variables of hardiness and social support. The sample of 246 students from seven different colleges and universities in Pennsylvania completed a hardiness measure, the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ), and a Clinical Stress Questionnaire (CSQ). Although the correlations were low, hardiness was found to be positively related to the evaluation of challenge and negatively related to the evaluation of threat. Social support was positively related to the evaluation of challenge only when using a work-related measure of support. The hypothesis that social support would be negatively related to the evaluation of threat was not supported. This research raises important questions related to the theories of hardiness, social support, and cognitive appraisal of stress. Implications for further research in this area are offered.

Stressful Life Events, Health Symptoms, Social Support and Coping in Early Adolescents

Numerous research reports have substantiated the role of stressful life events in relation to the onset of health changes. The relationship tends to hold across different age groups. Theoretically, adolescence has been considered a developmental crisis period of great stress, impoverished coping skills and high vulnerability to biological, social and psychological demands. The research problem addressed by this study was to examine the relationships between stressful life events and health symptom patterns, and the effect of two variables, coping and social support, theoretically considered to mediate the relationship between stress and health symptoms in adolescents. The following five hypotheses were tested in this research: 1. Health symptoms are positively related to stressful life events in adolescents, 2. Health symptoms are negatively related to coping in adolescents, 3. Health symptoms are negatively related to social support in adolescents, 4. When coping is controlled, the relationship between health symptoms and stressful life events will decrease, and 5. When social support is controlled, the relationship between health symptoms and stressful life events will increase. The study subjects consisted of 1090 high school students of the metropolitan city of Seoul. The following sampling procedure was used: 1. Of the 169 high schools in nine school administrative districts in the city, a proportional sample of ten schools was selected. 2. One class from each of the freshman and sophomore was randomly selected and all the students who were in the sampled class were used as the study sample. The study was limited to freshman and sophomore adolescents, aged 15 to 18 (mean = 16.6). Of the 1090 subjects 688 (63%) were boys and 402 (37%) were girls. An Adolescent Inventory of Stressful Life Events, a Health Symptom Questionnaire and an Adolescent Coping Inventory were adapted for this study. The Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire was utilized to collect the data on perceived social support. Five high school teachers in the areas of school health and counselling reviewed the items of each questionnaire for content validity. A pilot study was undertaken to ascertain reliability. Fifty three high school students responded to the questionnaires and gave their opinions on the items. For stressful life events, health symptoms, coping, and social support, the Cronbach's alpha's on the study were .70, .94, .77, and .76, respectively. Research assistants attended all the sampled classes with the school proctor to explain the purpose and procedures of the study to the students. The questionnaires along with a ballpoint pen were distributed to the students who were asked to complete each item.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

ノーバック・ソーシャルサポート質問紙日本版における構成概念の妥当性の分析

ノーバック・ソーシャルサポート質問紙日本版における構成概念の妥当性の分析

Perceptions of postmastectomy patients. Part I: The relationships between social support and network providers

With the increased incidence of breast cancer in the United States, emotional adjustment of postmastectomy patients is a growing concern. This study was designed to examine demographic and social network variables that relate to social support. Breast cancer patients (N = 613) who had a mastectomy within the past 24 months (means = 12 months) responded to the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ). To supplement the quantitative data, interviews were conducted with 27 women. Results from the NSSQ indicated that women perceived greater emotional support (means = 4.25) than aid (means = 3.97) from their network providers. The average number of persons (both professional and lay) in the women's total network was 8.1, comprising 57% family members and 27% friends. Relationships with network providers were characterized as stable (5-year) and frequent (weekly). Social support increased with age, but the size of the network decreased. No significant difference existed between marital categories in emotional support or frequency of contact. Married or widowed women perceived similar amounts of aid, whereas single and divorced women indicated less. Divorced women reported significantly larger networks than the other three marital status categories. Persons with less education perceived greater emotional support than those with more education. Being married had a significant positive relationship to emotional support (p less than .001).

Perceptions of postmastectomy patients. Part II: Social support and attitudes towards mastectomy

To measure the relationships among social support, attitudes toward mastectomy, and self-esteem in women postmastectomy, the Mastectomy Attitude Scale (MAS), the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ), and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) were used. A factor analysis of the MAS yielded six factors that were used in regression analyses. Stepwise regression was used to identify variables that significantly contributed to women's self-esteem. Covariates in the analyses were age, years of education, marital status, and adjuvant chemotherapy. The women (n = 456) averaged 54 years in age, had slightly more than a high school education (mean = 13.0 years), and were predominately married (80%); almost half had adjuvant chemotherapy (45.6%). The overall regression model was significantly (df = 16,440; F = 15.12, p less than 0.0001) and accounted for 35.5% of the variance. Seven of the 16 variables were significant accounting for the following percentages of variance: sexuality, 21.1%; outlook, 5.8%, appearance satisfaction, 3.1%; emotions, 1.3%; college education, 1.2%; adjuvant chemotherapy, 0.6%; and age (60-69), 0.6%. Thus, women's attitudes toward mastectomy accounted for a greater proportion of the variance in their self-esteem than did social support and other demographic variables.

Social support, self-esteem, and depression in the institutionalized elderly.

Psychosocial studies of the elderly have been limited primarily to noninstitutionalized elderly living at home in the community. Only a few studies have explored the psychological implications of being institutionalized despite the fact that approximately 5% of the 25.6 million elderly 65 years or older in the United States reside in nursing homes (Rovner & Rabins, 1985). This correlational study was a beginning effort to investigate the relationships among depression, social support, self-esteem, and selected demographic variables in a sample of 26 institutionalized elderly individuals. The Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ) was used for measuring social support. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale were used to measure depression and self-esteem respectively. The applicability of these instruments for studies of the elderly is discussed. Findings indicated that the demographic characteristics of the subjects had no significant effect on their feeling of self-esteem or depression. However, social support significantly correlated with depression and there was some indication that the type of institutional setting and frequency of religious participation also interacts with the level of depression. The article concludes with recommendations for future research.

The relationship between social support, self-esteem, and maternal-fetal attachment in adolescents.

Limited information is available about factors related to prenatal attachment in adolescents. In this study, relationships among self-esteem, social support, and maternal-fetal attachment were examined. A culturally diverse sample of 90 adolescents between 14 and 19 years of age was recruited from two of the three licensed residential maternity homes in Los Angeles County. The four research instruments administered included: a background questionnaire, Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory, Norbeck's Social Support Questionnaire, and Cranley's Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale. Although nonsignificant correlations were found between total maternal-fetal attachment scores and measures of self-esteem and social support, four key variables were identified through regression analyses. These significant predictors of prenatal attachment were total functional support, total size of network, planning of pregnancy, and intent to keep the infant. Implications for clinical practice are discussed related to these findings.

Reliability and Validity of the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire in Psychiatric Inpatients

Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, concurrent and construct validity of the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ) were assessed in male psychiatric inpatients. Results suggest that the NSSQ is reliable and valid for psychiatric subjects.

Social support

Two areas of importance to the delivery of health care which have received inadequate attention are the influence of social support on health outcomes and the social support characteristics of culturally diverse populations. The Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire was used to determine the nature and perceived quality of social support of cancer patients living in Egypt. A sample of 40 hospitalized subjects were interviewed by a health care professional. The amount and sources of support for this sample are described and these findings are compared to the normative data reported previously for American employed adults. The mean age of the Egyptian cancer patients was 45 years, approximately 57% were female, and 90% of the subjects were married. The mean number of persons identified as providing social support was 14.78; the reported frequency of contact and duration of relationship of these network members suggest a stable support network. Family members/relatives was the category of persons providing the greatest proportion of support. The amount of functional support (affect, affirmation, and aid) reported suggests a relatively high perception of social support available to these Egyptian cancer patients, particularly when compared to the normative data reported for the United States sample of employed adults.

Clinical assessment of the social support of families with handicapped children.

Families of children with handicapping conditions face both acute and chronic stressors that require continual adjustment. A supportive environment has been found to reduce the impact of stressors. Since the family's social network may be supportive or nonsupportive, an assessment of the family's social support is useful for planning nursing interventions.An analysis of the properties of social networks is included in order to enable a better understanding of the conditions under which support is provided as well as the negative effects of network ties. The Personal Resource Questionnaire and the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire are discussed as research instruments that provide indicants of network properties. Guidelines for obtaining a comprehensive assessment of the family's support are included.

Further Development of the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire

This article describes the second phase of testing the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ), an instrument designed to measure multiple dimensions of social support. Three studies were conducted to provide a normative data base and to further test validity. In the first study, data from 136 employed adults were obtained. The amount and type of support available for a functioning group of male and female respondents and sources of support for this sample are described. In the second and third studies, the instrument was found to be very stable over a seven-month interval and sensitive to changes within the social support networks of a group of graduate students during their first year of study. Construct validity of the instrument was established by comparing convergent and discriminant constructs to the NSSQ. Concurrent validity with another social support questionnaire was demonstrated. Predictive validity was tested in a sample of 53 graduate students through assessing the buffering effect of social support on measures of negative mood following life stress. Two NSSQ subscales, aid and duration of relationships, had significant interaction effects with life stress on the outcome of negative mood. Duration of relationships also had a significant main effect. After subtracting the main effect for life stress from the overall R2 in the multiple regression analysis, the NSSQ functional support subscales and their interactions with life stress accounted for 19 percent of the variance on negative mood, and the NSSQ network property subscales and their interactions accounted for 20 percent of the variance.

The Development of an Instrument to Measure Social Support

This article describes the development of a new instrument, the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, designed to measure multiple dimensions of social support. Based on Kahn's (1979) conceptual definitions of social support and definitions from network theory (Barnes, 1972), the instrument has three main variables--Total Functional, Total Network, and Total Loss--each with three subscales. Graduate and undergraduate nursing students were used as subjects in this phase of testing, which established high levels of test-retest reliability and internal consistency. The social desirability response bias was ruled out, and moderate levels of concurrent validity were found. Additional work to establish construct validity is needed. Two groups of students were compared to study the normative trend for this population, and differences were minimal except for recent losses and aid, reflecting the actual situations of the two groups.