The role of social support in HIV prevention among young Latino men who have sex with men

The purpose of this formative study was to determine and prioritize the HIV-prevention needs of Latino young men who have sex with men (YMSM) in Chihuahua (Mexico), Texas, and California, based on YMSM and service provider perceptions of the factors affecting the assimilation and implementation of HIV-preventive behaviors. These factors included: perceived social support, identification of the modes of HIV transmission, perceived risk of HIV, perceived norms and attitudes of peers.^ The study, drawn from a secondary data set, was a convenience sample of providers (n=8) and clients (n=15). Participants completed face-to face interviews and a survey instrument. Interviews were analyzed to identify common themes and congruence among client groups, and among clients and providers. Providers’ understanding of theoretical constructs of interventions was also assessed. Survey data were analyzed to determine variable frequencies and their congruence to the qualitative analysis. ^ The results revealed several differences and many commonalities in the assimilation of protective messages. Client and provider perceptions were congruent across all domains. Providers demonstrated intuitive command of theoretical concepts but inconsistently verbalized their application. Both clients and providers recognized Latinos possessed high HIV-knowledge levels, despite inconsistent protective behaviors. Clients and providers consistently identified important reasons leading to inconsistent protective behaviors, such as: lack of access to targeted information and condoms, self-esteem, sexual identification, situational factors, decreased perceived HIV-risk, and concerns about homophobia, stigma, and rejection. Other factors included: poverty, failure to reach disenfranchised populations, and lack of role models/positive parental figures. The principal conclusion of the study was that there is a need for further study to understand the interrelationship between larger socioeconomic issues and consistent protective behaviors.^

Social support, health status and health services utilization among the noninstitutionalized elderly: An analysis of the Supplement on Aging to the 1984 national health interview survey

The association between Social Support, Health Status, and Health Services Utilization of the elderly, was explored based on the analysis of data from the Supplement on Aging to the National Health Interview Survey, 1984 (N = 11,497) using a modified framework of Aday and Andersen's Expanded Behavioral Model. The results suggested that Social Support as operationalized in this study was an independent determinant of the use of health services. The quantity of social activities and the use of community services were the two most consistent determinants across different types of health services use.^ The effects of social support on the use of health services were broken down into three components to facilitate explanations of the mechanisms through which social support operated. The Predisposing and Enabling component of Social Support had independent, although not uniform, effects on the use of health services. Only slight substitute effects of social support were detected. These included the substitution of the use of senior centers for longer stay in the hospital and the substitution of help with IADL problems for the use of formal home care services.^ The effect of financial support on the use of health services was found to be different for middle and low income populations. This differential effect was also found for the presence of intimate networks, the frequencies of interaction with children and the perceived availability of support among urban/rural, male/female and white/non-white subgroups.^ The study also suggested that the selection of appropriate Health Status measures should be based on the type of Health Services Utilization in which a researcher is interested. The level of physical function limitation and role activity limitation were the two most consistent predictors of the volume of physician visits, number of hospital days, and average length of stay in the hospital during the past year.^ Some alternative hypotheses were also raised and evaluated, when possible. The impacts of the complex sample design, the reliability and validity of the measures and other limitations of this analysis were also discussed. Finally, a revised framework was proposed and discussed based on the analysis. Some policy implications and suggestions for future study were also presented. ^

Posttraumatic stress disorder among veterans of the Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) wars: Psychological comorbidities, postdeployment social support and unit support

Much attention has been given to treating Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring (OIF/OEF) Veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, little attention is given to those Veterans who do not meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD but who may still benefit from intervention. Research is needed to investigate the impact of how different racial/ethnic backgrounds, different levels of social support and comorbid mental health disorders impact OIF/OEF Veterans with varying levels of PTSD. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the association of comorbid Axis I disorders, race/ethnicity, different levels of postdeployment social support and unit support on OIF/OEF Veterans with varying levels of PTSD. Data for this dissertation were from postdeployment screenings of OIF/OEF Veterans from a large Veterans Affairs hospital in southeast Texas. To examine the study hypotheses, we conducted multinomial logistic regressions of the clinician reported data. ^ The first article examined the prevalence of subthreshold and full levels of PTSD and compared Axis I and alcohol use comorbidity rates among 1,362 OIF/OEF Veterans with varying levels of PTSD. Results suggest that OIF/OEF Veterans with subthreshold PTSD experience similar levels of psychological distress as those with full PTSD and highlight the need to provide timely and appropriate mental health services to individuals who may not meet the diagnostic criteria for full PTSD. ^ These results suggest that OIF/OEF Veterans of all race/ethnicities can benefit from strong social support systems. Postdeployment social support was found to be a protective factor against the development of PTSD among White, Black and Hispanic veterans while deployment unit support was a protective factor only among Black Veterans. The second article investigated the association between postdeployment social support and unit support with varying levels of PTSD by race/ethnicity among 1,115 OIF/OEF Veterans. ^ The results of this study can help to formulate treatment and interventions for OIF/OEF Veterans with varying levels of PTSD and social support systems.^

Mitigating Risk For Anxiety Among Preschool-Age Children Living In Poverty: Evaluating The Impact Of Adult-Provided Social Support On Autonomic Stress Reactivity

Poverty increases children's exposure to stress, elevating their risk for developing patterns of heightened sympathetic and parasympathetic stress reactivity. Repeated patterns of high sympathetic activation and parasympathetic withdrawal place children at risk for anxiety disorders. This study evaluated whether providing social support to preschool-age children during mildly stressful situations helps reduce reactivity, and whether this effect partly depends on children's previously assessed baseline reactivity patterns. The Biological Sensitivity to Context (BSC) theory proposes that highly reactive children may be more sensitive than less reactive children to all environmental influences, including social support. In contrast, conventional physiological reactivity (CPR) theory contends that highly reactive children are more vulnerable to the impact of stress but are less receptive to the potential benefits present within their social environments. In this study, baseline autonomic reactivity patterns were measured. Children were then randomly assigned to a high-support or neutral control condition, and the effect of social support on autonomic response patterns was assessed. Results revealed an interaction between baseline reactivity profiles and experimental condition. Children with patterns of high-reactivity reaped more benefits from the social support in the experimental condition than did their less reactive peers. Highly reactive children experienced relatively less reactivity reduction in the neutral condition while experiencing relatively greater reactivity reduction in the support condition. Despite their demonstrated stability over time, reactivity patterns are also quite susceptible to change at this age; therefore understanding how social support ameliorates reactivity will further efforts to avert stable patterns of high-reactivity among children with high levels of stress, ultimately reducing risk for anxiety disorders.

The Relationship Between Social Support and Self-Advocacy in College Students With Disabilities

This study explored the connection between social support and self-advocacy in college students with disabilities. The College Students with Disabilities Campus Climate Survey (Lombardi, Gerdes, & Murray, 2011) was used to gather data from undergraduate students at a midsize western private university. Social support was found to be a significant predictor of self-advocacy in college students with disabilities. Peer support, family support, and faculty teaching practices made up the construct of social support. Peer support and faculty teaching practices were found to be significant predictors of student self-advocacy. Family support was not found to be significant. The data was examined for group differences between genders, disability types, and disability status (high incidence disabilities versus low incidence disabilities). No significant group differences were found. These findings suggest helping students build social support will increase their level of self-advocacy, which in turn may increase academic success.

Current health status and the future demand for health care programs and social support services : follow-up analyses from the survey of aging veterans /

"March 1985."

Social Support Networks and Self-Efficacy of Peruvian Women Diagnosed with Cancer: A Biocultural Analysis of Health Behavior Constructs

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

The process of sharing social support in cyberspace

Mutual support is an interactional communication process. Taking an interactional approach to support requires group participants be viewed not only as targets and recipients but also as sources and providers of various types of support. An analysis was performed on the interactions of a group listserv and model of online interactional support. The aim was to explore the communication process children follow. The analysis revealed self-disclosure was used in the support group in three distinct ways. Its function for the support recipient is to initiate a transactional relationship with another member for the purpose of attracting social support through the open expression of concerns and frustrations. It is then used by the support provider to demonstrate that coping is possible for the recipient through the reciprocal self-disclosure of similar concerns and situations with which the member has successfully dealt. The third use of self-disclosure was to share reciprocal social companionship relationships.

Perceived social support in a large community sample - Age and sex differences

Background. The positive health and wellbeing effects of social support have been consistently demonstrated in the literature since the late 1970s. However, a better understanding of the effects of age and sex is required. Method. We examined the factor structure and reliability of Kessler's Perceived Social Support (KPSS) measure in a community-based sample that comprised younger and older adult cohorts from the Australian Twin Registry (ATR), totalling 11,389 males and females aged 18-95, of whom 887 were retested 25 months later. Results. Factor analysis consistently identified seven factors: support from spouse, twin, children, parents, relatives, friends and helping support. Internal reliability for the seven dimensions ranged from 0.87 to 0.71 and test-retest reliability ranged from 0.75 to 0.48. Perceived support was only marginally higher in females. Age dependencies were explored. Across the age range, there was a slight decline (more marked in females) in the perceived support from spouse, parent and friend, a slight increase in perceived relative and helping support for males but none for females, a substantial increase in the perceived support from children for males and females and a negligible decline in total KPSS for females against a negligible increase for males. The perceived support from twin remained constant. Females were more likely to have a confidant, although this declined with age whilst increasing with age for males. Conclusions. Total scores for perceived social support conflate heterogeneous patterns on sub-scales that differ markedly by age and sex. Our paper describes these relationships in detail in a very large Australian sample.

Stress associated with the transition from high school to university: The effect of social support and self-efficacy

The present study aimed to evaluate the role of social support and self-efficacy on the level of stress associated with the transition from high school to university. One hundred and eight-five university students who had completed high school in the previous year completed a three-part questionnaire designed to gather information on their levels of self-efficacy, social support, and stress associated with their transition. The results showed that self-efficacy was a significant predictor of stress associated with the transition to university in that higher levels of self-efficacy were associated with lower levels of stress while social support was a non-significant predictor of stress. [Author abstract]

Reliability and validity of the medical outcomes study social support survey (Chinese version)

No Abstract