Categories Of Social Support Research Articles

Social Support and Social Network Mobilization in Older African American Women who Have Experienced Strokes

Contemporary studies of social support have been criticized by disability studies scholars for portraying disabled women as passive recipients of care and support. This portrayal fails to recognize disabled women's strengths and contributions to their social networks. This qualitative study sought to gain a nuanced understanding of the processes of social support network mobilization used by a group of eight older African American women who recently had strokes. Research methods included in-depth thematic interviews and the construction of social network maps. Findings indicate the conventional categories of social support fail to capture the complexity of older disabled African American women's experiences. An alternative framework for understanding social support is presented that incorporates personal strengths and socio-political barriers.

Social support for women with chronic pelvic pain: what is helpful from whom?

Eight women with Chronic Pelvic Pain (CPP) were asked, by means of semi-structured interview, what had been helpful and unhelpful in terms of social support from their partners, families, friends, acquaintances, doctors, nurses and other women with CPP. Firstly, thematic analysis employing a pre-defined social support category system revealed that particular forms of tangible support were preferred from specific support providers but emotional and informational support was appreciated from the whole support network. Secondly, interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed three major additional themes: ‘Pain and Suffering’ described the trauma suffered by these patients and the anger and anxiety surrounding their experience; ‘Ideal Social Support’ revealed a picture of desired support consisting of enduring emotional and practical support which did not undermine individual autonomy; ‘Shortfalls in Social Support’ had subsidiary themes entitled ‘Lack of empathy’ and ‘Lack of engagement’. These themes were described and discussed in relation to each other, extant research and their clinical implications.

School-aged homeless sheltered children's stressors and coping behaviors

The purpose of this study was to examine the stressors and coping behaviors of school-aged homeless children staying in shelters. A secondary analysis of interview data from 30 children, between the ages of 8 to 12 years, was used to delineate the stressors and coping behaviors. Homeless, family, self, peer, school, and violent behavior were the stressor categories derived from content analysis. The children expressed more stresses in the homeless, family, and self categories than in the other 3 categories. The coping behaviors from the content analysis were categorized by using Ryan-Wenger's (1992) coping taxonomy. The majority of the children's coping responses were in the social support, cognitive avoidance, and behavioral distraction categories. Nurses should assess each child's stressors and coping behaviors when providing care to homeless children, and assist the child in alleviating some stressors by strengthening one's coping behaviors. Copyright © 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company

Depressive symptomatology and specificity of social support.

Psychosocial interventions should be based on research which reflects the multidimensionality of psychosocial constructs. This study investigated six categories of social support which were associated with depressive symptomatology in a sample of 531 college students. The Social Provisions Scale was used to measure social support while the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale was used to measure depressive symptomatology. Standard multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the variance contributed by each of the six categories of social support found on the Social Provisions Scale to depressive symptomatology. Specifically, the following categories of social support were significantly associated with depressive symptomatology: Reassurance of Worth (for male and female respondents) and Attachment (for females only). Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Communication of Social Support in Computer-Mediated Groups for People With Disabilities

This study documented the types and extent of social support messages exchanged by persons with disabilities who participated in a computer-based support group. A modified version of Cutrona & Suhr's (1992) social support category system was used to code 1,472 support messages. The largest percentage of these messages offered emotional and informational support, whereas network support and tangible assistance were least frequently offered. It appeared that many of the support messages directly redressed limitations and challenges associated with disability-related mobility, socialization, and self-care. Results are discussed in terms of the generalizability of existing category systems for coding support to this mediated context, the relative importance of different types of support in the communication of support group members, and the unique features of social support in mediated environments. The implications of this study for social support researchers, persons with disabilities, and human services professionals are also discussed.

Psychosocial problems of children and adolescents with a chronic disease: coping strategies.

The purpose of this pilot study was to identify the coping strategies used by children, adolescents and youths with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) attending a camp for IDDM patients near Ryosen town, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Forty-three IDDM patients (24 females and 19 males) were studied, divided into two age groups. The first group included children (seven males and 10 females). The second group included adolescents and youths (12 males and 14 females). For the child group a projective drawing method was used for study and for the older group, an open questionnaire was used. Ryan-Wenger's taxonomy of children's coping strategies and Band's coding systems and classification were used for the content analysis. 'Instrumental action', 'Emotional expression' and 'Catastrophizing thinking' were the coping strategies, represented in the child group. Gender differences in coping strategies were found in the group of adolescents and youths. The most often represented and most important coping category for the male subgroup was 'Behavioral avoidance'. Next in frequency of representation for the male subgroup were 'Cognitive distraction' and 'Behavioral distraction'. The coping categories 'Seeking social support' and 'Behavioral distraction' were represented with equal frequency in the female subgroup and the next was 'Aggressive activities'. The most important coping strategy for the female group was 'Talking to peers' from the seeking social support category. The study also helped to identify several children and adolescents who might need special psychological support.

Meta-Analysis of the Associations between Social Support and Health Outcomes

Abstract The purpose of this review was to determine the effect of different types of social support on physical, psychological, and stress-related health outcomes. Meta-analysis was used to aggregate research findings across sixty published and seven unpublished studies with 11 to 3,725 subjects per study. Study results were grouped according to operationally defined categories of social support and types of health outcomes. Data from these studies were then standardized, weighted by sample size, and effect size calculated. Effect size results of the grouped studies of social support and types of health outcomes ranged from –.02 to .22. Effect size results were equivalent when comparing studies grouped by gender of subjects, longitudinal versus cross-sectional design, and high or low quality (as rated on internal and external design validity). These effect size results between social support and the health outcomes measured indicate small amounts of shared variance that may not be considered significant nor generalizable. Conceptual and methodological issues that may have contributed to small effect size results are described herein. These findings counter the generally held assumptions that social support is associated with improved health outcomes. The need for continued research into the negative aspects of social support and suggestions for further refinement of a situation-specific support paradigm are offered.

School-age children's perceptions of coping with distress: strategies for emotion regulation and the moderation of adjustment.

An inventory was developed to assess children's perceptions of what they did to feel better in stressful situations, and to examine the role of these perceptions in moderating the relationship between stress and outcome. A total of 345 6-12 year old children from diverse backgrounds were interviewed. Children's perceptions of what they do to relieve distress could be organized into six factors including the use of social support, distraction/avoidance, and other categories of coping which show continuity with those identified for infants and toddlers. Several types of coping served as compensatory moderators of the relationship between stress and self-worth.

Children's nighttime fears: Ratings of content and coping behaviors

The subjective ratings of 21 nighttime-fearful children to short phrases with nighttime-fearful content were compared with the ratings of 21 children who exhibited little or no fear at nighttime. Coping responses and parental reports of nighttime fear behavior were also compared. Overall, children reported using self-control more than the other coping categories of social support: clinging to inanimate objects; avoidance or escape — control over inanimate environment; and avoidance or escape — control over others. Fearful children reported more coping behaviors than nonfearful children. Children's reports indicated that the nighttime fear category of security — personal life, loss, or safety was the most highly feared category by all groups. Nighttime fearful children rated as more fearful the categories of imaginal-numinous, inherent characteristics, and the dark than did the non-nighttime-fearful children. The categories of security — personal life, loss, and safety; security — separation or loss of others; dreams; and neutral failed to differentiate the two groups.