Social support and Social cohesion

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Social support and Social cohesion

• SDH, MPH-85

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Outlines

• 1. Definition
• Structural Capital
• Human Capital
• Social Capital
• 2. Why is SC so important?
• 4. Types and determinants of SC
• 5. How can we measure SC?
• 6. Dimension of SC
• 7. Cohesion

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McElroys modified IC map
Market Value
Financial Capital
Intellectual Capital
Social Capital
Human Capital
Structural Capital
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Structural capital

• Structural capital consists of embodiment,
  empowerment, and supportive infrastructure of an
  organization that enhances performance of human
  capital.

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Human Capital

• ?Human capital refers to the value of knowledge,
  skills and experiences held by individual
  employees in an institution

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Human Innovation Capital

• Human innovation capital, is the sum total
  capacity of individuals to innovate
• It is a division of Human Capital

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Human capital is embodied in the individual

• As usually defined, human capital is embodied in
  the individual, and the national stock of human
  capital can therefore be thought of as the sum
  total of the human capital of all those normally
  resident in its territory.

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• The development of individual human capital is
  therefore intertwined with the social and
  collective development of knowledge.
• Human capital and knowledge can be thought of as
  joint-products, but conceptually, they are
  distinct and in the ideal would be separately
  measured.

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Defining Social Support

• Responsive acts of assistance between human
  beings Tracy and Whittaker (1994)
• Many definitions all good - but none the same
• Automatically assumed by most people
• Proven Buffer to Stress role
• Proven area of Social Science (From medical
  research)

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Social Support

• Resources provided by other persons
• Information leading the subject to believe that
  he is cared for and loved, is esteemed and valued
  and belongs to a social network of communication
  and mutual obligation

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Social capital definition

• Social capital
• Social capital represents the degree of social
  cohesion which exists in communities. It refers
  to the processes between people which establish
  networks, norms and social trust, and facilitate
  co-ordination and co-operation for mutual
  benefit.
• World Health Organization, Health Promotion
  Glossary, Geneva, 1998

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Social capital WHO definition cont.

• Social capital is created from the myriad of
  everyday interactions between people, and is
  embodied in such structures as civic and
  religious groups, family membership, informal
  community networks, and in norms of voluntarism,
  humanity and trust. The stronger these networks
  and bonds, the more likely it is that members of
  a community will co-operate for mutual benefit.

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Social capital

• Social capital consists of the networks, norms,
  relationships, values and informal sanctions that
  shape the quantity and co-operative quality of a
  societys social interactions

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Social innovation capital

• Social innovation capital is the collective
  capacity of a group to innovate.
• It originate from human innovation capital and
  social capital

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Difference between HC and SC
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Trends of social capital

• There is evidence that overall levels of social
  capital have been declining in countries such as
  the United States and Australia.
• Overall levels of social capital have generally
  been stable or rising in countries such as the
  Netherlands, Sweden, Japan and Germany
• The evidence for the UK is ambiguous, with some
  key indicators showing declines, such as social
  trust, while others appear to have remained
  stable, such as volunteering

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Outlines

• 1. Definition
• Structural Capital
• Human Capital
• Social Capital
• 2. Why is SC so important?
• 4. Types and trends of SC
• 5. How can we measure SC?
• 6. Dimension of SC
• 7. Cohesion

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Social Support and Health

• Social support can be a very powerful variable in
  times of crisis or stressful life events.
• Many studies have shown increases in mental and
  physical health to be strongly related to the
  amount of social support available in a given
  situation.

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Evidence for Social Support

• Social support Durkheim showed lower suicide
  rates according to the degree of integration into
  a social group
• Gore showed that married people are happier, less
  isolated, with more social ties

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Findings

• Women have more support than men
• Married people have more support than single
  people
• Support decreases with age
• Support increases with socio-economic status
• Social support often mediated by health related
  behaviour

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• The larger a persons social network, the greater
  the benefits to health
• Social support buffers against stress
• Single people more likely to die from heart
  disease than married people
• Men more likely than women to die within 6 months
  of death of their partner
• Social networks decrease with age and men tend to
  be older than their partners
• It may be more effective against stress when
  provided by people who have shared similar life
  experiences

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Social capital and health

• Thus far an observed relationship has been
  identified between various measurable attributes
  of social capital and improved health status
  (reduced infant mortality, increased life
  expectancy, lower deaths from specific causes) in
  individuals and communities (eg Kawachi 1997,
  Berkman 2000, and Lynch 2001)
• Not new as a concept in health research - closely
  related to existing theories that link social
  support and resilience to improved health status.
  Lynch refers to it as a new and more fashionable
  label for investigations into what used to be
  called social support

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Mechanisms for the action of social support on
health

• Direct effects
• Encourage healthier behaviors, such as reducing
  fat in diet, taking exercise, or giving up
  smoking.
• Support increasing perceptions of control over
  the environment, and giving an insurance of
  self-worth, which in turn may improve well-being
  and immunity to disease
• Buffering effects
• Making the treats more manageable or even
  avoiding it.
• Practical aids or emotional consultation may help
  to moderate the impact of the stressor and the
  ability to deal with the consequences of the
  stressors.

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Effects of Social Support

• Strengthens internal resources (self esteem,
  meaning, value)
• Strengthens external resources (money, childcare,
  employment)
• Buffers difficult life events by producing
  adapting coping behaviors, which strengthen the
  individual
• Modify the meaning of loss/change

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opposite direction

• There is also evidence that the association
  between social support and health work in
  opposite direction
• Poor health might be a barrier to maintaining or
  participating in social relationships, especially
  in elderly.

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Social Capital

• Cause
• leading to positive outcomes, economic
  development and less crime
• Effect
• inferred from the same outcomes
• Social Capital remains under-theorized

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Other benefits

• Increasing evidence shows that social capital is
  critical for societies to prosper economically
  and for development to be sustainable. Social
  capital, when enhanced in a positive manner, can
  improve project effectiveness and sustainability
  by building the communitys capacity to work
  together to address their common needs, fostering
  greater inclusion and cohesion, and increasing
  transparency and accountability.

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Social capital benefits

• Social capital may contribute to a range of
  beneficial economic and social outcomes including
  high levels of and growth in GDP more
  efficiently functioning labor markets higher
  educational attainment lower levels of crime
  better health and more effective institutions of
  government

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Outlines

• 1. Definition
• Structural Capital
• Human Capital
• Social Capital
• 2. Why is SC so important?
• 4. Types and determinants of SC
• 5. How can we measure SC?
• 6. Dimension of SC
• 7. Cohesion

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Types of social capital

• Three main types of social capital can be
  distinguished
• Bonding social capital (e.g. among family members
  or ethnic groups)
• Bridging social capital (e.g. across ethnic
  groups) and
• Linking social capital (e.g. between different
  social classes)

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Social Networks

• Bonding within demographic groups horizontal-
  exclusionary
• Bridging between different demographic groups -
  horizontal
• Linking between upper and lower socio-economic
  groups - vertical

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• Different types of social capital are relevant to
  different economic and social outcomes e.g.
  bonding social capital is most important to
  health in early childhood and frail old age
  whereas bridging social capital is most important
  in adult life when looking for employment

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What determine the level of social capital ?

• History and culture
• Whether social structures are flat or
  hierarchical
• The family
• Education
• The built environment
• Residential mobility
• Economic inequalities and social class
• The strength and characteristics of civil
  society and
• Patterns of individual consumption and
• personal values.

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promoting the accumulation of social capital

• At the individual level, the available levers
  include (for example)
• greater support for families and parenting
• mentoring
• new approaches to dealing with offenders and
• volunteering.
• At the community level, the available levers
  include (for example)
• promoting institutions that foster community
• community IT networks
• new approaches to the planning and design of the
  built environment
• dispersing social housing and
• using personal networks to pull individuals and
  communities out of poverty.
• At the national level, the available levers
  include (for example)
• service learning in schools
• community service credit schemes and
• measures to facilitate mutual trust.

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Outlines

• 1. Definition
• Structural Capital
• Human Capital
• Social Capital
• 2. Why is SC so important?
• 4. Types and determinants of SC
• 5. How can we measure SC?
• 6. Dimension of SC
• 7. Cohesion

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Approaches to Measuring Social Support

• Structural approach views social networks and
  their effects on a broad quantitative level.
• The functional approach takes a more qualitative
  view by looking at particular aspects of social
  support. It can be divided into three factors
  instrumental support, informational support, and
  emotional support.

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Measurement of Support

• Social Networks
• Refer to the social contacts of a group of
  persons.
• Social support

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Social Networks

• Advantages Easy to measure, reliability, easily
  verifiable
• Number of contacts
• Frequency of contacts
• Density of network
• How much each network member is in contact with
  each other
• How integrated network members are?
• Disadvantages They do not provide any indication
  of the quality of the interaction taking place in
  social contacts. Although sources of support may
  be identified, the type of support is not.

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Social support

• Emotional
• Informational
• Self-appraisal
• Provide support that boosts self-esteem and
  encourages positive self appraisal
• Instrumental or practical support
• Practical help or financial support
• Negative interaction
• Close relationship can have negative as well as
  positive aspects.

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Functional Aspect of SS

• Instrumental support provides material goods and
  needs.
• Informational support allows for more concrete
  facts and advice.
• Emotional support focuses on the expression of
  caring and concern.

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• Informational support is usually perceived as
  helpful only when coming from a professional
  source.
• Emotional support is usually readily accepted
  from anyone (Lehman et al., 1986). Some support
  may seem unhelpful at first and yet overtime the
  respondent will begin to see the beneficial
  intention (Lehman et al., 1986).

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Perceived support

• Ask the respondent whether there is someone
  available to provide support should the
  respondent need it
• How much supports the respondent feels and
  reports they have been given.

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Issues of Perceived Social Support

• Perceived support is as important if not more
  important than received Social Support
• Social Support is in the eye of the beholder
  Carolyn Cutrona (1995)
• Note myth of network size as a factor
• Range of sources important - not pure amount
  (Professionals make this mistake regularly!)

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Measurement tools

• By building an understanding of community-level
  dynamics, social capital measurement can inform
  strategies for designing, implementing and
  evaluating programs.
• The Social Capital Assessment Tool (SOCAT)
• The Social Capital Integrated Questionnaire
  (SC-IQ)

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The Social Capital Integrated Questionnaire
(SC-IQ)

• SC-IQ has a focus on applications in developing
  countries. The tool aims to generate quantitative
  data on various dimensions of social capital as
  part of a larger household survey (such as the
  Living Standards Measurement Survey or a
  household income/expenditure survey.

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Social trust

• Social trust is a core component of social
  capital, and is normally used as a key indicator
  of it, sometimes as the best or only single
  indicator.

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Level of trust in different countries
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Percentage of People Saying that Most People can
be Trusted.
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Outlines

• 1. Definition
• Structural Capital
• Human Capital
• Social Capital
• 2. Why is SC so important?
• 4. Types and determinants of SC
• 5. How can we measure SC?
• 6. Dimension of SC
• 7. Cohesion

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Dimensions of SC-IQ

• Specifically, six dimensions are considered
• groups and networks
• trust and solidarity
• collective action and cooperation
• information and communication
• social cohesion and inclusion
• empowerment and political action.

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• The survey instrument thus reflects the group
  membership (structural) and subjective
  perceptions of trust and norms (cognitive)
  dimensions of social capital, the main ways in
  which social capital operates, and major areas of
  application or outcomes.

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Groups and Networks

• This is the category most commonly associated
  with social capital. The questions here consider
  the nature and extent of a household members
  participation in various types of social
  organizations and informal networks, and the
  range of contributions that one gives and
  receives from them. It also considers the
  diversity of a given groups membership, how its
  leadership is selected, and how ones involvement
  has changed over time.

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Trust and Solidarity

• In addition to the canonical trust question
  asked in a remarkable number of cross-national
  surveys, this category seeks to obtain data on
  trust towards neighbors, key service providers,
  and strangers, and how these perceptions have
  changed over time.

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Collective Action and Cooperation

• This category explores whether and how household
  members have worked with others in their
  community on joint projects and/or in response to
  a crisis.

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Information and Communication

• This category of questions explores the ways and
  means by which poor households receive
  information regarding market conditions and
  public services, and the extent of their access
  to communications infrastructure.

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Social Cohesion and Inclusion

• Questions in this category seek to identify the
  nature and extent of differences, the mechanisms
  by which they are managed, and which groups are
  excluded from key public services.

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Empowerment and Political Action

• The questions in this section explore household
  members sense of happiness, personal efficacy,
  and capacity to influence both local events and
  broader political outcomes.

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Outlines

• 1. Definition
• Structural Capital
• Human Capital
• Social Capital
• 2. Why is SC so important?
• 4. Types and determinants of SC
• 5. How can we measure SC?
• 6. Dimension of SC
• 7. Cohesion

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Cohesion

• Cohesion is defined as a "field of forces that
  act on members to remain in the group" or "the
  resistance of a group to disruptive forces"

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Dimensions of social cohesion

• Belonging vs. Isolation
• Which means shared values, identity, feeling of
  commitment
• Inclusion vs. Exclusion
• Which concerns equal opportunities of access
• Participation vs. Non-involvement
• Recognition vs. Rejection
• Which addresses the issue of respecting and
  tolerating differences in a pluralistic society
• Legitimacy vs. Illegitimacy
• With respect to the institutions acting as
  mediator in conflicts of a pluralistic society

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Conclusion

• It does not seem likely that social networks can
  be artificially induced and remain long lasting.
• An "artificial" intervention may not be as
  effective as naturally formed support networks
  (Helgeson Cohen, 1996, p.145).

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Conclusion

• However, conversely, it seems very possible that
  interventions at a population level could reduce
  social support and impair health.
• Policy makers need to be aware of the costs and
  benefits of their policies in social terms across
  a wide range of different policies, from economic
  and town-planning, to health service
  distribution.

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Goals For Today

• 1. Definition
• Structural Capital
• Human Capital
• Social Capital
• 2. Why is SC so important?
• 4. Types and determinants of SC
• 5. How can we measure SC?
• 6. Dimension of SC
• 7. Cohesion

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