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PubMed1985

Social networks and social support: living with chronic renal disease.

Individuals with chronic renal disease who receive dialysis treatment are continually faced with major adjustments. These may include dealing with changes in work and economic status, social roles, activity levels, self-image, health status, and normal routines, as well as learning to live with uncertainty and loss. The individual's social network plays a key role as the individual experiences and moves through various stages of adjustment. Networks with certain characteristics (e.g. provision of affective support, reciprocal ties) may be more effective than others lacking these characteristics in meeting the individual's changing needs during the process of adjusting to chronic renal disease. This paper examines this relationship between the characteristics of an individual's social network and adjustment to chronic renal illness. The discussion focuses on the impact of chronic renal disease on the individual, the composition and characteristics of the social network, and on the relationships between network members. How the social network affects a person's adjustment to stages of adaptation to chronic renal disease is also addressed. Finally, suggestions are presented for how health care professionals can intervene at the individual, network, and organizational level to strengthen and enlarge social networks in order to enhance social support.

Humans↗
PubMed2001

Poor people, poor places, and poor health: the mediating role of social networks and social capital.

This paper explores the dynamics between poverty and exclusion; neighbourhood, and health and well being by considering the role of social networks and social capital in the social processes involved. It is based on qualitative research taking two deprived areas as exemplary case studies, and involving depth interviews with residents. Neighbourhood influences on networks and social capital were explored, network typologies developed reflecting structural and cultural aspects of individual's networks, and pathways implicated in health effects considered. The complexity of social capital is addressed. The role of three factors in influencing social networks and social capital are demonstrated: neighbourhood characteristics and perceptions; poverty and social exclusion, and social consciousness. Perceptions of inequality could be a source of social capital as well as demoralisation. Different network structures-dense and weak, homogeneous and heterogeneous- were involved in the creation of social capital and had implications for well being. Coping, enjoyment of life and hope are identified as benefits. Although participation in organisations was confirmed as beneficial, it is suggested that today's heterogeneous neighbourhoods also require regenerated local work opportunities to develop bridging ties necessary for the genesis of inclusive social capital and better health. Despite the capacity of social capital to buffer its harsher effects, the concept is not wholly adequate for explaining the deleterious effects of poverty on health and well being.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1984

Social networks and social support of primigravida mothers and fathers.

Most researchers have examined the effects of stress and social support on pregnancy outcomes without identifying the relationship between social support and social network factors. While the type and amount of support have been shown to be related to pregnancy outcomes, the sources of that support and the influence of network structure on a person's supportive resources have not been defined. Network factors, in fact, may predict perceived support or may explain more of the variance in pregnancy outcomes than social support does alone. The objectives of this study were to describe the social networks of primigravida women and their husbands; to determine if there are any differences in social networks based on gender, education, or income; and to examine the relationships among network characteristics, demographic characteristics, and perceived availability of support from network members. The 54 couples who composed the sample for this study were recruited through local physicians who provided the names of all clients who were primigravidas, living with the father of the child, and residing within 25 miles of Ann Arbor, Michigan. During the third trimester of pregnancy, couples were interviewed in their homes, and each parent completed a Social Network Inventory (SNI). The SNI obtained information about the size of the network, role relationships, frequency of contact, percent of uniplex relationships, and degree of overlap with spouse's social network. In addition, parents were provided with definitions of each of House's (1981) four types of social support and asked to indicate which forms of support they received from each network member. Both individual variables (age and educational level) and network structure variables (size, percent kin, percent females, frequency, and density) were significantly associated with the amount of perceived social support. For each type of support, the independent variables associated with support were different for men and women.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The influence of social networks and social support on violence by persons with serious mental illness.

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the relationship between violent acts and threats by persons with serious mental illness, the size and composition of their social networks, and characteristics of the social support they received. METHODS: A group of 169 respondents with serious mental illness and 59 of their significant others were interviewed using structured and semi-structured protocols to elicit data on demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, characteristics of respondents' social networks and of the social support they received, and perceptions of threat within the social network. Data on acts and threats of violence by respondents over an 18-month period were collected from self-reports by respondents and significant others and from hospital and court records. RESULTS: Fifty-six respondents either threatened violence or committed a violent act during the study period. Respondents with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were more likely to commit violent acts but were not more likely to threaten violence than were respondents with other diagnoses. Respondents in larger networks, those with networks composed primarily of relatives, and those who lived with unrelated persons were more likely to threaten violence. Financial dependence on family was associated with more violent threats and acts. Respondents who perceived hostility from others were more likely to engage in violent threats and acts, and those with confused thinking were less likely to act or threaten violence. More than half of the targets of violence were respondents' relatives, particularly mothers living with a respondent. Respondents who were violent perceived their significant others as threatening but did not perceive themselves as being threatening in return. CONCLUSIONS: The interpersonal and social contexts of respondents and their perceptions of these contexts are important considerations in assessing risk for violence by persons with mental illness. Mothers who live with an adult offspring with schizophrenia may be at increased risk for being a target of violence. Violence by persons with psychiatric disorders may be linked to their perceptions and experience of being threatened by others.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Social network and social support predict improvement of physical working capacity in rehabilitation of patients with first myocardial infarction.

A cohort of 50 patients under 70 years of age who had suffered their first myocardial infarction (MI) entered an exercise-based rehabilitation programme. An extensive personal interview concerning psychosocial factors, including social network and social support, as well as an assessment of an array of clinical and laboratory variables was made before the patients were discharged from the hospital. A follow-up 6 months later of the 40 patients that completed the programme showed that material social support and social anchorage at baseline predicted improvement in physical working capacity, independently from age, gender and important clinical variables. The authors conclude that psychosocial factors could be predictors of equal importance as many of the standard risk factors and clinical assessments in the rehabilitation of a majority of post-MI patients. It is suggested that training programmes should provide opportunities for involvement of the patients' social network, in order to benefit from optimal social support during the rehabilitation process.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Social networks and social support: implications for natural helper and community level interventions.

The convincing evidence of the relationship between social support, social networks, and health status has influenced the development of program strategies which are relevant to health education. This article focuses on the linkage between social support and social networks and health education programs which involve interventions at the network and community level. Two broad strategies are addressed: programs enhancing entire networks through natural helpers; and programs strengthening overlapping networks/communities through key opinion and informal leaders who are engaged in the process of community wide problem-solving. Following a brief overview of definitions, this article highlights several network characteristics which are often found to be related to physical and mental health status. Suggestions are made for how these network characteristics can be applied to the two program strategies. Principles of practice for the health educator, and some of the limitations of a social network approach are delineated. The article concludes with a recommendation for engaging in action research--a perspective highly consistent with both the strategies discussed and the concepts of social networks and social support. This approach not only recognizes, but also acts to strengthen indigenous skills and resources.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1996

[Social network and social support for married women and their spouses].

This study investigated various psychological aspects of social networks of married women and their spouses A survey data for 259 women and 185 men were analyzed, and main findings were as follows: 1. With marriage, support agents of women and men change extensively in their social networks. Wives have more variety in support agents within their social network, through children to their friends' parents. On the other hand, husbands' agents are likely to be confined to their wives and children. 2. Wives and husbands are similar in that their first choice for seeking advice is their spouse. A friend is the second choice for both of them. While parents, brothers and sisters serve as wives' third choice, there is no third for husbands. 3. Enrichment of wives' social network, based on a well-functioning relationship with husbands, leads to a lower degree of social isolation experienced by them.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Assessing social networks and social support in epidemiologic studies.

Epidemiologists and other researchers in the biomedical field have recently recognized the potential importance of social networks and the support they provide in maintaining health and well being. However, measuring social networks and social support has not proven to be easy, measures are generally not well validated and critical dimensions or characteristics of networks have yet to be identified. The aim of this paper is to provide the reader with some background on the work being done in this area. In particular, attention is devoted to why, historically, social networks have been suspected of playing a role in disease causation, what some important characteristics of networks are likely to be, examples of measures currently in use, and what the biological pathways are that may link networks to morbidity and mortality. A description of the Alameda County Study in California is given. In this study, people who were socially isolated were found to be over twice as likely to die in a nine-year follow-up period as those with many contacts. This increased risk was found to be independent of alcohol and cigarette consumption, obesity and other health practices.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Social networks and social competence: exploring the effects of early adolescent friendships.

This study explored the relationship between friendship social network variables and social competence indices using a sample of 98 young black lower SES adolescents. Analyses indicated that perceived emotional support received from friends and the number of reciprocated best friends in an adolescents' social network were related positively. Multivariate hierarchical regression analyses indicated that perceived friend emotional support and number of reciprocated best friends contributed independently to school competence, peer competence, and perceived self-competence measures. The friendship network's school achievement orientation was related positively to school competence but was unrelated to peer or perceived self-competence. Friendship network density did not add to the variance explained by the other network variables. Methodological contributions of this study include the development of a computer program to map friendship networks and the expansion of network analysis beyond the examination of social support functions.

Achievement↗
PubMed1990

Hospitalization and the composition of mental patients' social networks.

Social networks of 310 chronically mentally ill patients in Chicago-area State mental hospitals were examined to assess the relationship between the number of hospitalizations and network size and composition. As the number and length of admissions increases, although network size remains stable, there are fewer relatives and friends in the network. The networks of patients with frequent admissions are composed primarily of people met through the mental health system and those known for a short time. These differences are neither related to diagnosis nor to severity of mental illness. The results suggest that the process of hospitalization is related to patients' sources of social support. Implications for readmissions are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2005

The aging HIV/AIDS population: fragile social networks.

Social support becomes an increasingly critical resource for people as they age. In New York City, 25% of all people living with HIV/AIDS are over age 50, and 64% are over age 40. This study sample (n=160) reflects current HIV/AIDS epidemiology, with 34% females and 89% people of color. This study provides a detailed profile of this growing, aging cohort and their social networks. Our study finds this growing group of aging adults is isolated from informal networks due to the stigma of HIV/AIDS and ageism. Typically, partners and family members are key sources of informal support, but only 1/3 of respondents had a partner and 71% lived alone. This group relies heavily on friends, many of whom are also HIV-positive. Participants were in primary care and many (86%) utilized Medicaid. The fragile networks of these older adults will be challenged by age-related comorbidities. Without traditional caregivers, these aging adults with HIV/AIDS will have an immense impact on healthcare delivery and community-based programs.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1987

Social networks and social support among black urban elderly: a health care resource.

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in social networks and social support among the black urban elderly. This article reports from a community survey on the size, interaction, availability and adequacy of support and roles of kin and non-kin network members. The findings reveal frequent contact among family, relatives, friends, and neighbors. Black elderly utilize network members differentially for emergency and nonemergency situations. Implications for social work in health care are discussed.

Black or African American↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Social network and social support measures from the Pró-Saúde Study: pre-tests and pilot study].

We describe methodological steps in the selection of questions on social networks and support for a cohort study of 4,030 employees from a public university in Rio de Janeiro. First, group discussions with volunteers were conducted to explore the adequacy of related concepts. Next, questions in the Medical Outcomes Study questionnaire were submitted to standard "forward-" and "back-translation" procedures. The questions were subsequently evaluated through five stages of pre-tests and a pilot study. No question had a proportion of non-response greater than 5%. Pearson correlation coefficients between questions were distant from both zero and unity; correlation between all items and their dimension score was higher than 0.80 in most cases. Finally, Cronbach Alpha coefficients were above 0.70 within each dimension. Results suggest that social networks and support will be adequately measured and will allow for the investigation of their associations with health outcomes in a Brazilian population.

Brazil↗
PubMed2001

Computer networks as social networks.

Computer networks are inherently social networks, linking people, organizations, and knowledge. They are social institutions that should not be studied in isolation but as integrated into everyday lives. The proliferation of computer networks has facilitated a deemphasis on group solidarities at work and in the community and afforded a turn to networked societies that are loosely bounded and sparsely knit. The Internet increases people's social capital, increasing contact with friends and relatives who live nearby and far away. New tools must be developed to help people navigate and find knowledge in complex, fragmented, networked societies.

Community Networks↗
PubMed1980

Task force report: social networks as mediators of social support: an analysis of the effects and determinants of social networks.

The intent of this paper is to present a representative, though not exhaustive, overview of the current literature on social networks, with an emphasis on research linking social networks to psychological adaptation. This overview includes a review of social network concepts; and analysis of the multiple determinants of social networks; an analysis of the varied effects of social networks; and the implications for policies and practices of community mental health centers. This paper adopts the view that the concept of social network is a useful tool in examining both the functional and the dysfunctional influences of one's primary group on individual adaption.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Social network and social support characteristics amongst individuals recently discharged from acute psychiatric units.

This study compares the social support network of a diagnostically heterogeneous group of community mental health service users recently discharged from acute inpatient units, with that of a mental health service user comparison group with no history of hospital admission. Social data were elicited by a structured interview schedule (the Social Network Schedule). It was observed that the study group was characterized by smaller overall social networks, particularly within the primary network, but conversely the group had a greater proportion of service user peer contact. Few differences in perceived social support between groups were observed, although the study group reported fewer confidants. The implications of the study for nursing staff are discussed.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1985

Social networks and social support: an overview of research, practice, and policy implications.

Following a brief overview of the stressful life events-illness model and its implications for intervention, this article highlights the role of social support as a resource for resisting stress-induced illness and disability. It identifies three different connotative meanings that have been assigned to the social support construct, and describes their empirical operationalizations in several recent studies. Specifically, the social integration/participation formulation, the social network approach, and the social intimacy measurement strategy are described and contrasted. Within the latter approach, one study that illuminated types of informal helping behaviors is discussed in greater detail. A review of possible mechanisms whereby social support accomplishes its health-protective impact is also offered, and two types of planned interventions involving the mobilization or optimization of social support are spotlighted. The article concludes with ideas about ways that professionals can safeguard the natural helping skills of citizens and achieve an appropriate balance between formal and informal systems of service delivery in the health and human services fields.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2004

Interorganizational relationships within state tobacco control networks: a social network analysis.

INTRODUCTION: State tobacco control programs are implemented by networks of public and private agencies with a common goal to reduce tobacco use. The degree of a program's comprehensiveness depends on the scope of its activities and the variety of agencies involved in the network. Structural aspects of these networks could help describe the process of implementing a state's tobacco control program, but have not yet been examined. METHODS: Social network analysis was used to examine the structure of five state tobacco control networks. Semi-structured interviews with key agencies collected quantitative and qualitative data on frequency of contact among network partners, money flow, relationship productivity, level of network effectiveness, and methods for improvement. RESULTS: Most states had hierarchical communication structures in which partner agencies had frequent contact with one or two central agencies. Lead agencies had the highest control over network communication. Networks with denser communication structures had denser productivity structures. Lead agencies had the highest financial influence within the networks, while statewide coalitions were financially influenced by others. Lead agencies had highly productive relationships with others, while agencies with narrow roles had fewer productive relationships. Statewide coalitions that received Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funding had more highly productive relationships than coalitions that did not receive the funding. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that frequent communication among network partners is related to more highly productive relationships. Results also highlight the importance of lead agencies and statewide coalitions in implementing a comprehensive state tobacco control program. Network analysis could be useful in developing process indicators for state tobacco control programs.

Academies and Institutes↗