Summary of Social Support Lecture

- Do people who enjoy good social networkks have better health that others who do not have good social networks
- Defn: Social support, knowledge that onne is cared for and loved, and is part of a concerned community" - sense of belonging

Social support - Two broad categories
- Material support: Information support:  telling friend to visit doctor for health problem - leads to positive outcome
and Good and Services support - friends baby sitting, paying the bill or picking up something from the market
- Emotional support: a sense that other ppeople care about you. Ranges from casual 'good morning', friends at pub, or intimate relationships. 

Measurements of social support - 3 main ways
- Structural: whether relationships preseent or not i.e.: dad, mum, cousin, sister etc
- Interaction: whether social links are aactive or inactive
- Emotional: meaningful relationships, caan be positive or negative

Functions of social support
- Companionship and Love, Mental Stimulattion, Sympathetic ear, Practical advice, Material assistance

Research evident - Social support
Early research: Mather's findings - MI & death
- much lower death rate at home than at hhospital. Subsequent studies show this

Community research
- Low social support network has high RR  of mortality versas high social support network
- Social networks was measured using the  following criteria:
	- married or not
	- level of contact with extended family
	- church membership
	- formal or informal group affiliations
- Research findings did not make a lot off sense 

Pet ownership: - They can fulfill many of the functions of social support
- Research shows lower TG, BP, cholesterool, death rate present due to MI compared to non-pet owners
- Didnt differentiate between exercising  and non-excercising pets 
- Peer health people do not want a pet duue to long term committment 

Buffer Hypothesis
- social support acts as a shock absorberr, cushioning someone against life's adverse events
- Basically: Nuckolls described complicattions in pregnancy due to social support discrepancies. Basically high social support you have less complications, low social support - you have high complications. Draw diagram.