Measurements of social support in schizophrenia

A selective review of the literature reveals some methods and instruments that show promise for the investigation of social support as a factor in the course and treatment of schizophrenia. Approaches are divided into social-psychological questionnaires, anthropological network studies, ethnographies, and clinical epidemiological investigations. Social support measures designed for the general population probably have little relevance in schizophrenia. It appears that the most useful information comes from immersion in the experience of the patients, families, and caretakers rather than from an effort to develop a measure of social support in general that would be applicable to them.