Page 221 - Psychology of Wounds and Wound Care in Clinical Practice ( PDFDrive )

196 Chapter 8. Family, Friends and Social Support

Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS; Sherbourne and Stewart
1991 ) is relatively brief (12 item abbreviated version) mea-
sure of social support. It assesses four components of per-
ceived availability of social support, including (1) Emotional
support/ Informational support, (2) Tangible support (includ-
ing material support), (3) Positive social interaction (does
person have friends that are available to have fun), and (4)
Affectionate support (including loving and nurturing rela-
tionships). The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social
(MSPSS; Zimet et al. 1988 ) is another relatively brief (12
items) measure. The MSPSS assesses both the perceived
availability and adequacy of emotional and instrumental
social support, across the three factors relating to the source
of support (i.e., Family, Friends or Significant others). The
Social Provisions Scale (SPS- Russell et al. 1984 ) assesses six
dimensions of social support received within the context of
interpersonal relationships: (1) Guidance (receiving advice
and/or information), (2) Reliable alliance (feeling assured
that one can rely on certain others for concrete assistance if
necessary), (3) Reassurance of worth (feeling important to or
valued by others), (4) Opportunity for nurturance (feeling
needed to provide nurturing attention to others), (5)
Attachments (receiving a sense of emotional security from
close relationships), and (6) Social integration (feeling a
sense of belonging in a group, which includes others with
similar interests). All these measures of social support dem-
onstrate both the complexity of social support and the many
facets within it.
Finally, Social support has been measured from within the
family with the Family Relationship Index (FRI; Moos and
Moos 1981 ). There are also a considerable number of psycho-
metric measures that assess family functioning and support.

How Does Social Support Protect Health?

There is mounting evidence for the relationship between
social support and psychological stress, with a lack of social
support potentially increasing a patient’s experiences of