The Assessment of Social Networks and Social Support in the Elderly

While functional assessments of the elderly have been common practice for some time, it is now apparent that important social conditions facilitate functional ability and independence and, in fact. may make significant contributions to the health and well-being of the elderly. Primary among these conditions is the provision of support by members of a social network. Measuring social networks and social support has not proved to be easy; measures generally are not well validated, and critical dimensions or characteristics of networks have yet to be identified. Yet, in spite of these problems, more and more evidence points to the importance of these factors. Clinical impressions also suggest that social networks must be particularly important to the elderly, especially those with some disabilities. The aim of this paper is to provide the reader with some background on the epidemiologic work being done in this area. In particular, attention is focused on why social networks have been suspected of playing a role in disease causation, what some important characteristics of networks are likely to be, what kinds of measures are currently being used, how social networks are related to social support, and what network issues are of special relevance to the study of older people.