Page 222 - Psychology of Wounds and Wound Care in Clinical Practice ( PDFDrive )

How Does Social Support Protect Health? 197

stress and consequently potentially affecting wound healing
;
(Brown 2008 Solowiej and Upton 2010a , b ). A number of
theories have been suggested that support the link between
social support, stress and its impact on wound healing.
The main effect hypothesis suggests that the more social
support an individual has the better the quality of life, regard-
less of the person’s level of stress (Helgeson 2003 ). In other
words social support is beneficial to health and it is the
absence of social support that is stressful. The more social
support you have the better because large social networks
provide people with regular positive experiences in terms of
both emotional as well as physical support. Hence, social sup-
port promotes healthier behaviours such as exercise, eating
healthily and not smoking, as well as greater adherence to
medical regimes.
The buffer hypothesis proposes that social support buffers
the individual against the stressor. Rather than protect a per-
son all the time against the minor hassles and stresses of
everyday life, the buffer acts when it is needed most. For
example, when a person with considerable social support has
a diagnosis of an illness then they appraise it as less stressful
because they know people to whom they can turn. In con-
trast, those with lower social support might be unable to turn
to anyone (Cohen et al. 2000 ). In this way an individual’s
social support network, such as friends and family, act as a
defence against the negative impacts of stress, which, in turn,
can improve wellbeing and consequently the healing of the
wound (Solowiej and Upton 2010a , b ; Brown 2008 ). Indeed,
Brown ( 2008 ) suggests that aftercare to prevent social isola-
tion and potential recurrence of the wound is important.
The social comparison theory suggests that individuals may
evaluate their attitudes, beliefs and their abilities against those
who are in a similar situation to them. Thus, for example, indi-
viduals with a leg wound are much more likely to compare
themselves to others with a leg wound in a similar situation.
Individuals may either have an upwards or downward social
comparison. Those with an upward social comparison can
improve the view of themselves, and create a positive percep-
tion (e.g. an individual may think that someone else wound