SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Social Networks”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 847 records · Page 47Linked to original sources

PubMed2026

Open Dialogue versus treatment as usual for adults presenting in crisis to mental health services in England (the ODDESSI Trial): a multisite cluster-randomised trial.

BACKGROUND: Open Dialogue is a person-centred, transdiagnostic model of mental health care that emphasises continuity, therapeutic relationships, and collaboration with the service user's social network. Open Dialogue is a service-wide approach to care involving network meetings with the service user, members of their social network, and usually two practitioners who support the network throughout the duration of care. In this cluster-randomised trial, we aimed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of Open Dialogue versus treatment as usual for adults presenting in crisis to community mental health services in England. METHODS: This multicentre, parallel two-arm, cluster-randomised, controlled superiority trial was conducted in mental health services in five National Health Service trusts in London and the South of England. Clusters were defined at the level of primary care practices within service catchment areas. Participants were adults aged 18 years or older presenting in crisis to mental health services and registered with a practice within trial clusters. Randomisation was done at the cluster level (1:1), stratified by catchment area, and balanced on average general practice (GP) list size and Index of Multiple Deprivation (2015). The chief investigator, senior statistician, and assessors of the primary outcome were masked in the study. Participants either received Open Dialogue or treatment as usual, which refers to the functional team model currently implemented throughout English mental health services. The primary outcome was time (days) to first relapse following initial recovery from the index crisis censored at the end of the 2-year follow-up period. Participant-reported secondary outcomes were EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale, Social Provisions Scale, Lubben Social Network Scale, Questionnaire about the Process of Recovery, and the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire, measured at five timepoints over 2 years, and clinical measures were extracted from electronic health records. People with relevant lived experience were involved in the design and execution of the study. Fidelity to the model of care in Open Dialogue and treatment as usual, and adherence to the delivery of Open Dialogue, were measured prior to each site starting participant recruitment, then every 6 months thereafter until the final participant follow-up in that site. The trial was retrospectively registered (ISRCTN52653325) and is complete. FINDINGS: 185 general practices associated with six mental health Trusts across England were identified for screening. 105 practices were excluded, and 80 were included in cluster formation, forming 32 clusters that were randomly assigned (16 to treatment as usual and 16 to the Open Dialogue intervention). One mental health trust (two clusters) withdrew, resulting in five mental health trusts (30 clusters) participating in the trial. Between June 25, 2019, and Dec 9, 2021, 494 participants (266 [54%] female gender, 221 [45%] male gender, 341 [69%] White British) with a mean age of 38·1 years (SD 13·4) provided consent for study inclusion (223 in the treatment as usual group and 271 in the Open Dialogue group). Of these, 174 (78%) in the treatment as usual group and 225 (83%) in the Open Dialogue group recovered and had data enabling relapse determination; there was no significant difference between groups on the primary outcome of time to relapse following initial recovery (marginal hazard ratio 0·95 [95% CI 0·67-1·32]). For secondary outcomes, Open Dialogue was associated with significantly lower probabilities of psychiatric inpatient admission and re-referral to crisis care or secondary mental health services, and with improvements in self-rated recovery, health-related quality of life, and satisfaction with services. There were no significant differences in social network quality or size. There were 386 serious adverse events (281 in the treatment as usual group and 105 in the Open Dialogue group); 376 (97%) were deemed to be unrelated to the intervention. INTERPRETATION: Open Dialogue did not reduce time to first relapse compared with treatment as usual, the primary outcome, but it reduced acute inpatient bed use, improved service user reported outcomes and experience, and there were no significant safety concerns. Further investigation is required to determine whether Open Dialogue can enhance the effectiveness and acceptability of crisis care and continuing care in community mental health services. FUNDING: National Institute for Health Research.

Humans↗

PubMed1981

Analysis of a schizophrenic psychosocial network.

The amorphous concept of social support systems merits construction of a conceptually coherent theoretical model linked to social theory and amenable to empirical investigation. The social network paradigm is presented as such a model. The model is further defined in terms of the intimate psychosocial network, which has been empirically studied with the Pattison Psychosocial Kinship Inventory. The characteristics of the normal network are shown to differ substantially in the schizophrenic network. The structure and functions of the schizophrenic network are illustrated in a case study analysis. The schizophrenic network is shown to exhibit dynamics that generate and perpetuate psychotic behavior. A strategy for network intervention is described, based on the model of structural change in the network social system.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

How important is treatment? One-year outcomes of treated and untreated alcohol-dependent individuals.

AIMS: To compare representative treatment and untreated samples of alcohol-dependent individuals in rates of abstinence and non-problematic use at 1-year follow-up. PARTICIPANTS AND DESIGN: A total of 482 alcohol-dependent adults in a northern California county identified through a probability survey of problem drinkers in the general population (n = 111) or a survey of consecutive admissions to public and private substance abuse programs (n = 371) were interviewed in person at baseline and by telephone at 1 year. MEASUREMENTS: Logistic regression models were used to predict 30-day abstinence and 12-month non-problematic alcohol use. RESULTS: At follow-up, alcohol-dependent individuals in the treatment sample had higher abstinence rates and non-problematic use outcomes than those in the untreated general population sample. In logistic regression models of the merged samples, being in the treatment sample was related strongly and positively to abstinence and non-problematic use. Having more drug users and heavy drinkers in one's social network, higher psychiatric comorbidity, and more social consequences were inversely related to abstinence and non-problematic use in the treatment sample. The number of drug users and heavy drinkers in one's social network was also inversely related to abstinence in both the treatment and untreated general population samples. Results predicting non-problematic use were similar. CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with other studies that examine treatment effectiveness in the absence of a controlled trial. Although natural recovery also occurs, alcohol-dependent individuals benefit from treatment. Co-occurring psychiatric problems continue to be major barriers to treatment effectiveness. An emphasis on changing social networks to be conducive to recovery could heighten both clinical effectiveness and prevention efforts within communities.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Duration of untreated psychotic illness: the role of premorbid social support networks.

BACKGROUND: A lengthy delay often exists between the onset of psychotic symptoms and the start of appropriate treatment. However, the causes of this long delay remain poorly understood, and there is a need to search for the factors involved in such a delay in order to reduce the time of untreated psychosis. This study aimed at examining the influence of premorbid social networks on the duration of untreated psychotic illness. METHOD: One hundred subjects with a first episode of schizophrenia or related psychotic disorders never treated with antipsychotics made up the study sample. Social support was assessed by means of the Sturtees's social support scale that comprises two subscales measuring close and diffuse social support. Duration of untreated illness was assessed according to three definitions: duration of untreated unspecific symptoms, duration of untreated psychotic symptoms, and duration of untreated continuous psychotic symptoms. We also examined the effect of putative confounding factors such as gender, residence (urban-rural), age at illness onset, years of education, and parental socio-economic status. RESULTS: Correlational analysis showed that poor diffuse social support, but not poor close social support, predicted long duration of untreated illness according to the three definitions; this association being mainly due to poor work/academic support. Logistic regression analysis confirmed such an association, but it was limited to duration of continuous psychotic symptoms (unadjusted OR=3.44, 95% CI=1.51-7.83); this association persisted after adjusting for the confounding variables (adjusted OR=3.39, 95% CI=1.39-8.29). We also found that subjects with low socio-economic status were depending on the definition of duration of untreated illness considered, between 2.7 and 4.3 times more likely to present with a long duration of untreated illness. CONCLUSION: Both poor diffuse social support and a low socio-economic status seem to be relevant factors of a prolonged duration of untreated psychosis.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Social support and cancer screening among older black Americans.

BACKGROUND: Age-adjusted cancer mortality is 27% higher for Black Americans than for the general U.S. population, which may result from inappropriate use of cancer detection tests. Social support has been shown to affect adjustment to breast cancer and survival, but it has not been studied as a predictor of use of preventive health care services in the older population. Our hypothesis is that larger social networks are associated with greater utilization of cancer-screening tests in the older population. PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between social support and use of cancer-screening tests among older Black Americans. METHODS: Data for this study were obtained from a 1986 baseline survey evaluation of a community intervention program to increase cancer awareness and a 1991 end-point survey of use of cancer detection tests. Our study sample consisted of 617 Black Americans aged 55 years or older who lived in San Francisco (Calif.), the control community, and in Oakland (Calif.), the target community for intervention. The survey included measures of 1) social network characteristics, as determined by a modified version of Berkman and Syme's Social Network Index; 2) demographic characteristics; and 3) use of six cancer-screening tests--mammography, occult blood stool examination, cervical smear, clinical breast examination, digital rectal examination, and sigmoidoscopy. RESULTS: Multiple logistic regression analysis of the Social Network Index results indicated statistically significant positive associations of social support with the use of mammography and occult blood stool examination but not with the other cancer-screening tests. There were statistically significant associations between having HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) insurance and increased use of mammography and occult blood stool examination, compared with having Medi-Cal or other insurance. The interval between the surveys had a statistically significant positive association with use of mammography. These significant associations were not explained by differences in the other variables, which included health status, age, gender, education, type of health insurance, interval between the surveys, and a regular source of care. CONCLUSIONS: Social support seems to be associated with increased use of mammography and occult blood stool examinations among older Black Americans. IMPLICATIONS: Interventions designed to increase utilization of social networks may be an effective way to increase use of cancer screening, which may ultimately lead to reduced mortality from cancer.

Black or African American↗

PubMed2004

Do they look after their own? Informal support for South Asian carers.

Policy on care in the community was founded on the premise that the care of frail elderly people with disabilities would be a joint responsibility for health and social care professionals, and family carers, supported by people within their social networks. The policy assumes that such social networks are common features of all communities in contemporary Britain, containing a reserve of people who can be called upon to provide support to carers. The present paper draws on material gathered for a qualitative study of the experiences carers in South Asian communities to examine the quality and quantity of informal support that was available in different types of households. Male and female carers were selected from the Punjabi Sikh, Gujarati Hindu, and Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities. A total of 105 carers participated in the project. Participants were caring for people in all age groups with physical and/or mental distress, and in some cases, with multiple and complex impairments. The analysis of carers' accounts suggested that, for a variety of reasons, the main carer, irrespective of gender, had limited support both in nuclear and extended households. In addition, societal attitudes towards disability and the fear of obligation prevented the seeking and accepting of help from wider social networks. The paper concludes that the evidence does not support the assumption about extended families, and their willingness and ability to support carers. Many issues highlighted in this paper have far-reaching implications for policy makers in many countries in the West where South Asian people have made their homes.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

Support and coping of male hemodialysis-dependent patients.

The purpose of this descriptive-correlational study was to describe coping strategies used by males with chronic renal failure who are dependent on hemodialysis; to describe their social networks; to describe the perceived support, conflict, and reciprocity within their interpersonal relationships; and to examine the relationships among the variables support, conflict, reciprocity, social networks, and coping strategies. Social support was conceptualized as a coping resource or source of assistance in coping with the renal illness- or hemodialysis-related stressor. The Ways of Coping questionnaire and the Interpersonal Relationship Inventory were administered to 30 participants while in hospital. Although, both problem-focused and emotion-focused forms of coping were used, participants primarily used problem-focused coping, in particular, "seeking social support". Overall, the participants perceived relatively high levels of support and moderate to high levels of reciprocity with members of their social networks. Participants experienced a moderate level of conflict in their interpersonal relationships. Both escape-avoidance and conflict were positively associated with the number of people in the household. Positive reappraisal was negatively associated with the number of close relatives. The small sample size prohibits generalizability of the results. Longitudinal studies with a larger randomly selected sample would yield insights into the long-term psychological outcomes of different coping strategies and into the bi-directional relationship of support from social network and coping in this population. Implications for nurses are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2004

Mental health among older adults in Japan: do sources of social support and negative interaction make a difference?

This study addresses the question of whether social support and interpersonal strain from different sources (i.e., spouse, children, and other relatives and friends) have differential impact on mental health. Data for this research came from a national probability sample of 2200 persons aged 60 and over in Japan. Structural equation models were evaluated within the context of two types of social networks: (a) persons who had a spouse and children (n=1299), and (b) those with children only (n=677). Between these two networks, the links among social support, negative relations, and mental health were contrasted. The effects of various sources of social support and negative interactions on mental health vary depending on the specific dimension of mental health as well as the nature of social networks. Among older Japanese who are married with children, social support from spouse has a greater association with positive well-being than social support from children and others. However, cognitive functioning is uncorrelated with all sources of positive and negative social exchanges. In contrast, among those without a spouse, only greater support from children is significantly correlated with higher positive well-being, less distress, and less cognitive impairment.

Asian People↗

PubMed1990

[Partnership networks and social organizations].

Psychological, ethical and political issues of the HIV and AIDS epidemic on one part, the pauperization of people with AIDS on the other have given birth to AIDS organizations and to a creative solidarity amongst PWA. Doctors and nurses in spite of a real professional stress show many proofs of readiness to give more of themselves in innovative new team-cooperation. In France, they are now organizing themselves into volunteer networks involving hospital and city doctors. Describing the two targets of the AIDS virus: the T4 cells and communication, the author shows how communication with the self and with others is blurred by this disease; recent statistics illustrate the economical, professional and social fragility faced by patient in terms of medicare, insurance, employment, housing and home care. The various functions ensure by volunteers and patients on one hand and by health professionals on the other in these new social networks are direct responses to these two psychological and economical main issues. After a recent trend towards dissociation of assistance and therapy, the two historical functions of hospital, are we about to see them reassembled again in new locations?

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMed2005

The emergence of the social brain network: evidence from typical and atypical development.

Several research groups have identified a network of regions of the adult cortex that are activated during social perception and cognition tasks. In this paper we focus on the development of components of this social brain network during early childhood and test aspects of a particular viewpoint on human functional brain development: "interactive specialization." Specifically, we apply new data analysis techniques to a previously published data set of event-related potential (ERP) studies involving 3-, 4-, and 12-month-old infants viewing faces of different orientation and direction of eye gaze. Using source separation and localization methods, several likely generators of scalp recorded ERP are identified, and we describe how they are modulated by stimulus characteristics. We then review the results of a series of experiments concerned with perceiving and acting on eye gaze, before reporting on a new experiment involving young children with autism. Finally, we discuss predictions based on the atypical emergence of the social brain network.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Communication strategies for dietary change in a worksite peer educator intervention.

At the heart of peer health education programs is the assumption that tapping social networks increases adoption of behavior change, yet the communication strategies used by peer educators have not been previously documented to assess the use of social networks in promotion of health messages. Our program in public worksites trained peer health educators to utilize their social networks along with individual persuasive strategies to promote the 5 a Day for Better Health message (i.e. eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day). Communication strategies utilized by the peer health educators were tracked via monthly focus groups over a 9 month intervention in 40 social networks of labor and trades employees. Audiotapes were transcribed and content analyzed to identify 10 communication strategies used by peer educators. Strategies were rated as enacted in an individual or a group (collective) context. Peer health educators were more likely to implement 'creating context' and 'role modeling' as group context change strategies, and 'encouragement' and 'responding to employee needs' as individual change strategies. Strategies used most frequently by males were 'mock competition', 'giving materials' and 'encouragement', while females used 'creating context' and 'keeping 5 a Day visible' most frequently. Hispanic peer health educators were more likely to use individual change strategies than their non-Hispanic counterparts. Documentation of the creative approaches utilized by lay educators among their peers can inform public health professionals on (1) how to better train outreach workers within various cultural, gender and social contexts, and (2) how to maximize social network effects.

Communication↗

PubMed1995

Patterns of self-disclosure across social support networks: elderly, middle-aged, and young adults.

Self-disclosure has generally been examined as a unidimensional construct which relates to intimacy in developing relationships. Self-disclosure also serves many functions in established relationships, such as with close friends and family. Moreover, the functions served by self-disclosure may vary depending upon the adults' gender and stage in the life-span. In this study, such issues are examined with regard to elderly, middle-aged, and young adults' use of four functions of self-disclosure: self-expression, self-clarification, social control, and social validation. Findings support the claim that greater intergenerational distance is related to less self-disclosure among members of a social network. Further, elderly adults self-disclose more often to family than to friends, while young adults self-disclose to friends more often than to family. Implications for self-disclosure within the areas of gender, social support, and social comparison are discussed, and the appropriateness of adults' disclosure patterns within a framework of life stages is considered.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Social support networks and type of neurotic symptom among adults in British households.

BACKGROUND: Current knowledge about associations between psychosocial factors and non-psychotic symptoms provide little information about their relationship to specific types of neurotic symptoms such as symptoms of fatigue, worry, phobic anxiety and obsessional symptoms. METHOD: The British National Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity was based on a cross-sectional random sample of 10,108 householders. Neurotic symptoms were established by lay interviewers using the revised fully structured Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R). Subjects were asked about perceived social support, the size of their close primary social network and sociodemographic attributes. To assess possible associations between specific types of neurotic symptoms and psychosocial risk factors multivariate Huber logistic models (a modified form of repeated measures design modelling) was used taking account of correlation between symptom types and sampling design including clustering. RESULTS: After controlling for sociodemographic factors the risk of having a high total CIS-R score (> or = 12) was approximately doubled for both types of poor social functioning. Specific types of neurotic symptoms were associated both with a small primary group and with inadequate perceived social support. Depression, depressive ideas and panic symptoms had a higher prevalence in multivariate models. Poverty was associated with low support. CONCLUSIONS: Associations with deficiencies in social support and self-reported neurotic symptoms are better explained by symptom type and in particular by depression than by the total number of symptoms. If confirmed by longitudinal study findings this knowledge could be used to inform the development of interventions to improve social support in order to reduce specific neurotic symptom types.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Tangled in a web of affiliation: social support networks of dually diagnosed women who are trauma survivors.

The goal of this article is to describe the social support networks of women with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health problems who are survivors of interpersonal abuse, using baseline interview data from 2 sites (n = 644) from the national Women Co-occurring Disorders and Violence Study. The size and composition of women's networks, the tangible and socioemotional support available, and the stance of the support network toward substance use, treatment, and trauma are described. Family members are described by women as offering less emotional support and less encouragement for healing from trauma than friends. Analyses demonstrated only modest support in either sample for the hypothesis that support network characteristics moderate the effects of traumatic stress on mental health and trauma symptoms among these samples of very burdened and poor women. The results point to the need for using caution in relying on women's existing social support network to help them heal.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Why rural African-American women who use cocaine mistrust women.

Little is known about the social networks of rural African-American women who use drugs, although the social networks of their urban counterparts have been characterized as small, mixed gendered, and distrustful of other women. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the characteristics of the social networks of rural African-American women, both users and non-users of drugs. Thirty rural women who used cocaine participated in in-depth qualitative interviews. Rural women who used drugs gave several reasons for their mistrust of other women and tended to have small social networks, which included family members and men to the exclusion of non-familial women. The findings of this study have implications for both research and practice.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Social support and depression among elderly Chinese people in Hong Kong.

This study examines the association between social support and depressive symptomatology in a representative community sample of 1106 Chinese people in Hong Kong aged sixty years or older. Significant bivariate relationships were found between depression and all dimensions of social support including social network size, network composition, social contact frequency, satisfaction of social support, instrumental/emotional support, and helping others. Using multiple regression models, the authors found that at least one measure of these six dimensions of social support was associated with depressive symptomatology, even after controlling for socio-demographic, and functional disability. We found that social support from family is important for elderly Chinese people in Hong Kong, and satisfaction with support is a more important predictor of depression levels than other objective measures of network relationships. Lastly, it was found that material aid and instrumental support is more important in preventing depression for elderly individuals in Hong Kong than emotional support.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

Social ties and colorectal cancer screening among Blacks and Whites in North Carolina.

Few studies have examined the relationship between social networks and colorectal cancer screening in diverse populations. Prior research suggests that the type of social support as well as the amount or frequency of support available from one's social network may be associated with health outcomes. Therefore, the current study examined relationships between both structural (i.e., quantitative aspects of the social network, such as number of ties and frequency of contact with ties) and functional (i.e., functions provided by social network ties, such as offering emotional or instrumental support) aspects of social ties and utilization of colorectal cancer screening tests. Analyses included 697 randomly selected Blacks and Whites ages 51 to 80 years enrolled as controls in the North Carolina Colon Cancer Study. Social tie and screening information was obtained from face-to-face interviews. Forty-seven percent of participants (40% Blacks and 51% Whites) reported use of one of the options for colorectal cancer screening according to the guidelines at that time. Compared with those with the fewest social connections, those who were most socially connected were more likely to report recent use of colorectal cancer screening [odds ratio (OR), 3.2; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.7-6.2]. This association was stronger among Blacks (OR, 3.8; 95% CI, 1.3-10.7) than Whites (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.2-6.9; P for interaction = 0.006). There were also positive associations between being a church group (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.4-2.7) and other group member (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1-2.2) and screening. Neither emotional (e.g., offering reassurance that one is cared for) nor instrumental (e.g., giving material assistance) support was associated with screening behavior. These data suggest that structural rather than functional aspects of social ties may be important in influencing colorectal cancer screening behavior.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Primate sociality in evolutionary context.

Much work has been done to further our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the diversity of primate social organizations, but none has addressed the limits to that diversity or the question of what causes species to either form or not form social networks. The fact that all living primates typically live in social networks makes it highly likely that the last common ancestor of living primates already lived in social networks, and that sociality formed an integral part of the adaptive nature of primate origins. A characterization of primate sociality within the wider mammalian context is therefore essential to further our understanding of the adaptive nature of primate origins. Here we determine correlates of sociality and nonsociality in rodents as a model to infer causes of sociality in primates. We found sociality to be most strongly associated with large-bodied arboreal species that include a significant portion of fruit in their diet. Fruits and other plant products, such as flowers, seeds, and young leaves, are patchily distributed in time and space and are therefore difficult to find. These food resources are, however, predictable and dependable when their location is known. Hence, membership in a social unit can maximize food exploitation if information on feeding sites is shared. Whether sociality evolved in the primate stem lineage or whether it was already present earlier in the evolution of Euarchontoglires remains uncertain, although tentative evidence points to the former scenario. In either case, frugivory is likely to have played an important role in maintaining the presence of a social lifestyle throughout primate evolution.

Animals↗