Defining and Measuring Social Support: Guidelines for Social Work Practitioners

Abstract

This article reviews the literature on social support and presents the theoretical foundations and basic concepts of social support. A framework is presented for assessing measures of social support, and eight measures are reviewed using the framework. The framework focuses on basic conceptualizations of social support, the psychometric characteristics of the measures, and their clinical utility. Suggestions are made for both using and improving existing measures of social support in social work practices.