Integration of coping and social support perspectives: implications for the study of adaptation to chronic diseases

In this article, empirical studies dealing with the relationship between coping and social support are discussed in order to identify promising themes for research on adaptation to chronic diseases. Although only few studies deal with this issue explicitly, the review reveals that four ways to study the relationship between coping and social support can be distinguished: (a) seeking social support as a coping strategy; (b) social support as a coping resource; (c) social support as dependent on the way individual patients cope; and (d) coping by a social system. It is argued that all four ways of integrating coping and social support contribute to a better understanding of adaptation to chronic diseases. However, exploring the interrelatedness of both concepts by studying social support as a coping resource and social support as dependent on the patient's own coping behavior appear to be especially fruitful in the short term, as they: (a) provide a better insight in the social determinants of coping, and (b) may help to clarify the way social support affects health and well-being.