The relationship between social support and depression in recovering chemically dependent nurses

The incidence of chemical dependence within nursing challenges the profession to explore the phenomena of chemical dependence and its recovery. Nurses (N = 58) who were peer assistance participants were studied to examine relationships between social support and depression. Social support was found to be significantly related to depression in this sample (r = -.642, p < .001). Over half of the sample initiated chemical use prior to completing nursing education. The findings of this study imply the need for researchers to target both practicing nurses and student nurses in future research intended to further explore chemical dependency in nursing.