Perceived Social Support for Caregiving

Literature affirming the importance of social supports and the popularity of a self-help ideology have resulted in professional initiation of support groups. Support groups have become an important source of help particularly for caregivers of Alzheimer's victims. However, existing measures of social support assess the benefit of family and friend relationships and not the unique contribution of relationship developed in support groups. This study represents a preliminary report on a 9-item scale (Perceived Social Support for Caregiving) developed to include aspects of self-help support as well as information exchange and emotional support. In addition, a 3-item scale (Social Conflict) was developed to measure negative aspects of supportive relationships. The two scales were developed through factor analysis on a sample of 206 caregivers. Both have good internal consistency and can be easily adapted for use with other populations participating in self-help and support groups.