Social support groups among new parents: An experimental study in primary prevention

This paper reports the findings of an action‐research project aimed at assessing the health‐protective effects and social consequences arising from the creation of social support groups among new parents. The study was designed and implemented in collaboration with two family physicians and adopted an experimental design whereby new parents from each physician's files were randomly assigned to a “treatment”; (social support) group and a “control”; (written educational materials only) group. The 24 couples comprising the sample completed questionnaires inquiring about their use of informal social support, their levels of stress and well‐being and their perceptions of their own parenting role before attending the group sessions and five weeks after the final session. Analysis ofcovariance revealed that the intervention prompted couples to increase their use of informal resources in their own social networks, while it did not alter levels of stress or well‐being. The discussion centers on methodological issues related to the measurement of positive health states in primary preventive studies and it addresses the practical implications of the current investigation for future efforts to mobilize informal social support on behalf of persons undergoing potentially stressful life transitions.