Journals Analysis

No

Title Author

Study
Objectives

Sample And
Sampling
Design
Social support to
130
contributes to investigating
physiotherapy
resilience
mental
students at
among
resilience and years 1, 2, and
physiotherapy its
3.
students:
determinants
Each student
a cross
among
was asked
sectional
undergraduat after class to
survey and
e
ll a paperfocus group
physiotherapy based,
study
students using self(va Br,
quantitative
administered,
Ilona
and qualitative anonymous
Veres-Balajti, tools
questionnaire
Karolina
and to
Ksa)
participate in
focus groups,
organized
during the last
month of the
spring
semester in

Instrumen

Kind of Social
Supports

Finding/ Results

Conclusions

A questionnaire
-based crosssectional survey
supplemented by 2
focus groups

Social support
from family and
peers.
Three quantitative
indicators
of psychological
resilience were
composed of three
dimensions that
reect
general resistance
resources. Higher
scores, in strong
association with
measures of
health. Another
aspect of
psychological
resilience is
social
support assessed
by the resources

Resilience was
lower [mean
difference 4.8
(95% CI -3.4;
13.1)], and the
occurrence of
psychological
morbidity (32.5%
vs. 0%) was
higher among
female compared
to male students.
However, the
proportion of
students fully
supported by their
peers was higher
among
females
(63% vs. 37.5%).
Female students,
unlike their male

Results were
fed back to the
course
organizers
recommending
the
implementation
of an evidencebased method
to improve
social support
as delineated
by the Guide to
Community
Preventive
Services of the
US the
outcomes of
which are to be
seen in the
future

time slots
convenient for
the students.
Two
focus groups
were
conducted;
one composed
by 9 students
from year 1,
and another
with 5
participants
from year 2
(approximately
11% of those
who
participated in
the
questionnaire
survey). One
master student
of health
promotion led
the focus
groups as

that are embedded

within an
individuals social
network and is
conceptualized
as information
leading people to
believe that
they are cared for
and loved,
esteemed and
valued, and
members of a
network of
communication
and mutual
obligations. A third
indicator was
support perceived
to
be obtained from
peers at the
university. Based
on the
results of the
quantitative part of

counterparts,
experienced
higher stress
compared to their
peers in the
general
population. Social
support declined
as students
progressed in
their studies
though this
proved to be the
most important
protective factor
for
their mental wellbeing

Relationships
between
perceived
social support
and retention
patients
receiving
methadone
maintenance
treatment in
China

facilitator while
another master
student
took notes that
were later
subscribed
verbatim.
Sound
recording was
not used at the
request of the
participants.
Sessions
lasted for one
hour
The purpose
A total of 1212
of this study
patients
was to explore completed the
the
cross-sectional
relationships
survey.
between
The subjects
perceived
were admitted
social support patients of the
and retention
two largest
in Chinese
MMT
mainland
clinics in Xi'an,

the study, focus

groups
were organized to
uncover
determining
factors of stress
and
resilience in depth
in order to make
suggestions for
improvement.

Perceived social
support was
evaluated using the
MSPSS, which
is a 12-item selfreport
questionnaire
designed to
measure the
perception of an
individual's level of

Support from
family, friends,
and signicant
others.
Perceived social
support has been
conceptualized as
a function
of beliefs about
one's self-worth
and the availability

A total of 1212
patients
completed the
cross-sectional
survey; 809
(66.7%) had good
perceived
social support and
458 (37.8%) had
experienced
readmissions.

Retention, thus,
had no
signicant
inuence on
perceived
social support
in MMT,
whereas
good perceived
social support
was a strong

mainland
(Kai Na Zhou,
et al)

patients
receiving
methadone
maintenance
treatment
(MMT).

China. One is
privately
funded and the
other is
publicly
funded.
Subjects were
included if they
were18 years
or
over and
spoke
Chinese. If the
patients had
cognitive
disorders or
refused to
provide written
informed
consent, they
were excluded.

support from family,

friends,
and signicant
others.
Each item is rated
on a seven-point
Likert
scale ranging from
1 (very strongly
disagree) to 7 (very
strongly
agree). The total
score is calculated
by summing the
results of all the
items, whereas the
individual
subscales are
calculated by
summing
the responses of
the items in each of
the three
dimensions. The
possible scores
range from 4 to 28

and
responsiveness of
others. Previous
studies have
shown family
support, family
relationships,
families'
supportive
attitudes toward
MMT, and living on
support from
family or friends to
all be signicant
predictors of
retention in MMT.
However, few
studies
have explored the
inuence of
perceived social
support on
retention
in MMT patients.
Long-term MMT
has shown a

With and without

controlling for
baseline
characteristics,
past retention had
no signicant
inuence on
perceived social
support. By the
end of the
follow-up, 527
(43.5%) patients
had terminated
MMT. The
patients without
good perceived
social support
were more likely
to terminate
treatment than
those with good
perceived social
support [hazard
ratio:
1.31, 95%
condence

protective
predictor of
retention.

for each subscale

and 12e84 for all
items, with a total
score over 50
representing good
perceived
social support.
The original
MSPSS has shown
good internal
reliability across
subject groups; the
three-factor model
(i.e., family,
friends, and
signicant others)
has been strongly
supported by
factorial validity,
particularly the
family and
signicant others
dimensions.
Huang et al
translated the
MSPSS into

satisfactory
effect on improving
the proportion of
patients with a
good patientfamily
relationship
; whether MMT
retention also
positively
inuences
perceived social
support is still
unclear

interval: 1.10,
1.57; 1.25 (1.04,
1.51)] regardless
of their baseline
characteristics
and
past retention.

Chinese and
validated the
instrument in
cancer patients,
indicating sound
psychometric
properties. In this
study, the
Cronbach's
a of the overall
MSPSS was 0.92,
with subscale
coefcients of 0.88,
0.89, and 0.84
for family, friends,
and signicant
others, respectively

The inuence
of social
support on
patients
quality of life
after an
intensive care

To determine
the inuence
of
instrumental,
emotional and
informative
support on

A crosssectional
survey has
been carried
out among
former
ICU patients

Two
questionnaires
were used to
measure social
support and
QOL, respectively.
The rst is the

Informative
support, emotional
support and
instrumental
support.
Informative
support means

Instrumental and
emotional support
show a buffering
effect on the
physical
dimension of the
quality of life. The

This study
emphasises the
buffering effect
of social
support on
diminished
quality

unit
discharge:A
crosssectional
survey
(Bram
Tilburgs, et
all)

the quality of
life of former
intensive care
unit (ICU)
patients and
to establish
their preferred
sources
of social
support.

from the
university
hospital
Radboudumc
in Nijmegen,
the
Netherlands.
88 out of the
300 invited
former ICU
patients
participated
in the study.
300 patients
who were
admitted
between
January 2010
and December
2012 were
selected from
the ICU
admission
database. This
time frame was
necessary to

social support
interactions
and discrepancies
list (SSL-I/D). This
Dutch
questionnaire,
with demonstrated
validity and
reliability contains
68 items.
The rst 34 items,
which measure the
experienced social
support, contain six
subscales which
together form a
total score of the
received social
support. Three of
these subscales
are used, namely
informative support,
emotional support
and instrumental
support, all using a
four-point Likert-

that the social

environment
gives the patient
advice and
information. For
instance
recommending to
the former ICU
patient what to do
to feel less
stressed. One of
the questions
being asked is:
does someone
give you
constructive
feedback?
Emotional support
stands for
assistance in
controlling the
unwanted
feelings caused by
a stressful
situation.
For example,

discrepancies
between the
expected and the
received
instrumental,
informative and
emotional support
have a negative
inuence on
psychological
quality of life.
Former ICU
patients prefer
receiving social
support from
family members
rather than
friends,
professional
caregivers or
fellow former ICU
patients

of life in former
intensive care
patients. It is
suggested that
hospitals
provide an
intensive care
after-care
programme
including both
patients and
relatives to help
fullling this
need for social
support.

be able to
recruit enough
patients.
Inclusion
criteria were
age (at least
18 years) and
length of stay
(at least three
days).

4
5

scale ranging from

1 (seldom or never)
to 4 (very
often).

when the former

ICU patient
receives comfort
from a friend when
feeling sad.
Instrumental
support stands for
the assistance of
someone to
alter a situation to
make it less
demanding. This
means that the
social environment
helps out with
activities like
washing and
cooking.