Multidimensional Social Support and Health of Homeless Individuals
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to analyze the relation of multidimensional support, perceived and received social support, and health outcomes of a proportional sample of homeless individuals in Toronto, Canada. This was done by measuring the mental health status, physical health status, and the recent encounters of victimization.
Intervention. Based on the information gathered from observations and previous studies researchers seek to further understand and measure the types of social support that benefit the homeless population. Researchers enrolled homeless individuals in Toronto, Canada. They defined this population as living in …show more content…
Homeless individuals often lack social interactions and can viewed as socially isolated. (Hwang, Kirst, Chui, Tolomiczenko, Kiss, Cowan, & Levinson). The researchers used various measurement approaches to assess social relationships. To gather concise information on this population, received and perceived support, and social networks were measured. For instance, the questions focused on gathering information on functional support. Functional support includes perceived and received, emotional, belonging, instrumental and informational support. Hwang et al. explains questions such as, who on the list (social network) can you count on to give you a short- term loan of 100$, (2015.) More importantly this helped researchers to measure instrumental support. The questions all emphasized on gathering information that would provide a better understanding of social support in relation to homeless …show more content…
In the stress buffering model, social support helps the individual alleviate the effects of stressful life events. The questions asked had a direct focal point of finding out if social support could help relive the individual’s stressors. In other words, the question about reaching out for a loan can signify the ability to deal with a financial stressor. The direct effect model centers itself on the social support network of the individual. For example, question four in the study asks the individual if they have been or are accompanied by a family member to health care appointments (Hwang et al, 2009, p. 794). Questions such as these can suggest that the social network can influence the health outcomes of this population. The social network can encourage the person to go to appointments and take better care of themselves. However, the stress-buffering model was a better fit for this study due the nature of the sample population and their constant exposure to high levels of