Social support instruments created by nurse investigators

Twenty-one instruments developed by nurse researchers were reviewed according to dimensions identified in the general social support literature: type, source, direction, drawbacks, disposition, description or evaluation, duration, and level. The aspects of social support studied, as reflected in the measurement instruments designed by nurse researchers, appropriately emphasize available and enacted emotional and instrumental support from family (including spouse) and friends. However, informational and appraisal support, community sources of support, duration of support, mutual receipt and provision of support, costs associated with negative support, perceived and received support, and evaluation of satisfaction with support are infrequently assessed. Nurses need to evaluate which of these elements are merely desirable supplements and which, if any, are essential to validate the information elicited by instruments. Clearly, nurse investigators have operationalized important typologies in the social-psychological literature. However, the number of diverse measures could be considered superfluous.