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Social support instruments created by nurse investigators.
1School of Nursing, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Nursing Research
|September 1, 1989
Summary
Nurse researchers developed 21 instruments to measure social support. While emotional and instrumental support from family and friends are well-assessed, other crucial aspects like informational support and satisfaction are often overlooked.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Research
- Social Psychology
- Health Sciences
Background:
- Social support is a key factor in health and well-being.
- Numerous instruments exist to measure social support.
- Nurse researchers have contributed significantly to social support measurement.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and evaluate 21 social support measurement instruments developed by nurse researchers.
- To assess the alignment of these instruments with established dimensions of social support.
- To identify gaps and areas for improvement in social support measurement.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of 21 instruments developed by nurse researchers.
- Analysis of instruments based on dimensions: type, source, direction, drawbacks, disposition, description/evaluation, duration, and level.
- Comparison of assessed support aspects against general social support literature.
Main Results:
- Instruments adequately emphasize emotional and instrumental support from family and friends.
- Informational and appraisal support, community sources, support duration, and satisfaction are infrequently assessed.
- A wide variety of measures exist, potentially leading to redundancy.
Conclusions:
- Nurse-developed social support instruments effectively capture key support types from primary sources.
- Further refinement is needed to include less frequently measured dimensions like informational support and satisfaction.
- Evaluation of existing instruments is crucial to ensure comprehensive and non-redundant measurement of social support.