Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses. Currently, web-logs are hosts to thousands of pro-ana (short for pro-anorexia) blogring participants, joining together with a common claim that eating disorders are "lifestyles not illnesses." This study explored participation motives among pro-ana blogring participants, relationships to individual psycho-social factors, and to unique web-log features. Results from the cross-sectional online survey suggest three main participation motives among blogring participants (community, obtaining social/ emotional support, and ego-protection). Results also indicate individual factors such as; social support satisfaction, drive-for-thinness, and BMI were related to blogger motives in a various diverse ways. Analyses of the findings from the present study reflect the self-disclosive nature of the blogging process. The results have several implications for eating disorder, computer-mediated communication, internet social support, and blog/blogring research.

Social support has been recognized to impact positive health behaviours, including exercise participation. In the exercise domain, one conceptual framework that has been employed to examine social support is Weisss (1974) Model of Social Provisions. The main purpose of the present study was to utilize Weisss (1974) model to examine how the social provisions relate to university students energy expenditure while exercising with others. Specifically, this study was concerned with participants perceptions about the availability of social provisions, their preferences for the provisions in the exercise setting, and the congruence between social provision perceptions and preferences as they related to energy expenditure. Participants who had performed exercise with others in the past 4 weeks (N=201) completed the Modifiable Activity Questionnaire (MAQ; Kriska et al., 1990) to assess energy expenditure, as well as modified versions of the Social Provisions Scale (Cutrona & Russell, 1987) to assess social provision perceptions and preferences. Results from exploratory factor analyses revealed separate five-factor models for both the perceived provisions (i.e., attachment, reliable alliance, social integration, opportunity for nurturance, and reassurance of worth) and the preferred provisions (i.e., guidance, social integration, reliable alliance, reassurance of worth, and opportunity for nurturance). Discriminant function analyses were used to assess the unique contribution of these perceived and preferred provisions to participants energy expenditure. The results from the analyses indicated that none of the perceived provisions and none of the preferred provisions predicted high versus low expenditure, nor did the congruence relationship between the perceived and preferred variants of each provision predict high versus low energy expenditure. Potential explanations for the non-significant findings were highlighted with respect to study methodology. Directions for future research were also discussed.

Background: In this study, we enhanced a diagnostic questionnaire which had been previously developed to measure stress and social support. Methods: 101 patients with chronic periodontitis and 50 healthy control subjects completed our questionnaire package after which we analyzed the data for trends and associations. Results: Our enhanced questionnaire provided a valid and reliable measure of stress and social support in patients with chronic periodontitis. Conclusion: Our enhanced questionnaire provided both a valid and a reliable measure of stress and social support in patients with chronic periodontitis however requires further refinement to predict periodontal disease experience and severity.

There exists a severe deficit of studies exploring the psychological aspects of Christian worship experiences despite worship’s importance in Christianity and in many people’s lives. Transformational worship experiences can have lasting effects on one’s outlook and psychological functioning (Chou, 2008; Cutler, 1976; Ellison & George, 1994; Fife, Adegoke, McCoy, & Brewer, 2011; Salsman, Brown, Brechting, & Carlson, 2005), yet very few studies have investigated these experiences. The current study sought to explore the effects of group size and style of worship on participants’ feelings of deindividuation and focus on others within the congregation. Seventy-six middle aged adults from a range of ethnicities and denominations took part in an interview that included measures of religious support, social support, style of worship service, and a number of free-response questions about a transformational worship experience in the participant’s past. It was predicted that a more ceremonial worship style and that higher scores in religious and social support would be associated with less focus on specific others, that a more ceremonial worship style would be associated with more religious and social support, and that, depending on the level of religious and social support, the relationship between ceremonial style and focus on other would vary. Except for a significant positive correlation between ceremonial worship style and religious support, the proposed hypotheses were not supported.

Background: Symptomatic heart failure is a chronic and disabling condition that affects over 350 000 Canadians and is characterized by inevitable progression. Historically, research on the ways to increase survival has focused on biomedical factors. However, the continued poor prognosis of heart failure has prompted the search for other ways to improve the lives of these patients. Research in other chronic conditions demonstrates that social circumstances, described collectively as individual social interactions (e.g. social support, social participation) and community social factors (e.g. social capital, social norms), can influence health outcomes. Purpose: The purpose of this research was to describe and assess the impact of selected social circumstances potentially related to heart failure outcomes. Methods: Two literature reviews and one empirical study were performed. Conceptual models were proposed to describe the hypothesized pathways between selected social circumstances and heart failure outcomes. The first review was a systematic review of quantitative studies evaluating the relationship between social support and both rehospitalization and death. The review included a critical analysis of the methods employed by previous studies. The second review integrated the qualitative and quantitative literature describing the relationship between individual social interactions (including support, roles and participation) and the quality of life of patients or experience of living with heart failure. A narrative summary was provided and an integration of findings from both qualitative and quantitative study designs was performed. In the empirical study, patients‘ demographic and clinical information was examined simultaneously with selected community factors in a multilevel analysis. Outcomes of interest included rehospitalization or death of heart failure patients. Results: The systematic review shows that previous quantitative research has linked social support to reduced rehospitalization, but there is little evidence to link it with prolonged survival. The critique of the methods describes an inadequate conceptualization and inconsistent measurement of social support. A conceptual model showing how social support can influence rehospitalization is proposed. The integrative review presents qualitative research that identified the following social interactions as important components of the heart failure experience: social support, social participation and role fulfillment. However, no quantitative relationship between social support and quality of life was found. The potential reasons for the discrepant findings between the qualitative and quantitative studies include: the focus on social support as the only component of social interactions assessed in the quantitative literature; and the inconsistent measurement of social support. A conceptual model is presented to describe the multiple components of social interactions and the theoretical basis for their effects. The multilevel analysis demonstrates that individual factors exerted the strongest effect on heart failure outcomes in most models. Community characteristics had little influence on rehospitalization or death. Study design and analysis issues are proposed to explain these findings. Conclusion: The literature reviews and the empirical study provide a contribution to the population health literature, offering a broad approach to assessing the determinants of disease progression in heart failure patients. This thesis research advances the discussion about which social circumstances may influence heart failure outcomes and their pathways. The use of the proposed conceptual models in future research will help clarify the role of social circumstances in the prognosis of heart failure.

The present survey study investigated cultural differences in social support, well-being, distress, positive and negative emotions in relation to infertility, by analyzing mean difference, correlation, regression and moderation on these variables. 117 women with primary infertility were recruited from fertility clinics in Sweden and Iran. Cultural differences were found regarding well-being and distress, indicating that infertility may pose a greater stigma in Iran than in Sweden. Even so, both samples reported high distress levels which confirmed infertility as a psychological stressor. Social support buffered against distress in the Swedish sample. Well-being was to a greater extent estimated by emotions in the Swedish sample, and by social support in the Iranian sample. Results were discussed in relation to aspects of individualism and collectivism.

Motherhood is a rewarding, but challenging experience. Mothers are expected to balance parenting with multiple roles including employment. How mothers adjust is influenced by their confidence in their role, their mental health, the social support from their partner, family, and friends, and their perceptions of their infants (Mercer, 1995). Maternal confidence has been identified in the literature as an essential variable in the adaptation to motherhood and to the maternal role (Mercer, 1986; Walker, Crain, & Thompson, 1986). Low maternal confidence delays the transitioning into the maternal role/identity as well as limits the satisfaction in the mothering role (Mercer, 1986). Having infants with difficult temperament further impedes this transition resulting in frustration with new mothers and possibly depression (Andrews, 1990). This study used a descriptive correlational design to explore the relationship between infant temperament and selected maternal factors (education, prior childcare experience, social support, and depression) and maternal confidence. A convenience sample of 94 primiparous mothers with infants 6 weeks to 32 weeks participated in this study. SPSS statistical software version 10.0 was used to analyze data and answer the following research questions: 1) What is the relationship between infant temperament, and selected maternal factors (education, prior childcare experience, social support, and depression), and maternal confidence of first-time mothers during their child’s infancy?; 2) What are the differences in maternal confidence between first-time mothers with infants’ age 6 weeks - 16 weeks and first-time mothers with infants’ age 17 weeks – 32 weeks? Results revealed statistical significant relationships between infant temperament, social support, and depression with maternal confidence. Social support also had statistically significant relationships with education and depression. Infant temperament, social support, and depression predicted 20.6% of the variance with maternal confidence. There was also a significant difference between groups with mothers’ perception of their infants’ temperament. Healthcare providers need to be aware that mothers who suffer from depression, have low social support, and perceive their infants to have difficult temperament are at risk for having low confidence in the care they provide for their infants. Further research is needed to explore intervention methods aimed at increasing maternal confidence with new mothers.

The aim of this qualitative deep interview study was to gain deeper understanding of single immigrant mothers´life situation. Grounded Theory was the method of analysis. Repeated interviews with five immigrant women from different parts of the world showed that women were in need of wider and deeper social networks in order to reconstruct their identities. Social support and social networks benefit, not only reconstruction of identity, but also personal well-being. Yet it is difficult for them to create social networks in the new country, because of single motherhood. Using the idea of "fictive kinship", two alternatives of socioemotional support system were suggested in this study.

Social support has been recognized to impact positive health behaviours, including exercise participation. In the exercise domain, one conceptual framework that has been employed to examine social support is Weisss (1974) Model of Social Provisions. The main purpose of the present study was to utilize Weisss (1974) model to examine how the social provisions relate to university students energy expenditure while exercising with others. Specifically, this study was concerned with participants perceptions about the availability of social provisions, their preferences for the provisions in the exercise setting, and the congruence between social provision perceptions and preferences as they related to energy expenditure. Participants who had performed exercise with others in the past 4 weeks (N=201) completed the Modifiable Activity Questionnaire (MAQ; Kriska et al., 1990) to assess energy expenditure, as well as modified versions of the Social Provisions Scale (Cutrona & Russell, 1987) to assess social provision perceptions and preferences. Results from exploratory factor analyses revealed separate five-factor models for both the perceived provisions (i.e., attachment, reliable alliance, social integration, opportunity for nurturance, and reassurance of worth) and the preferred provisions (i.e., guidance, social integration, reliable alliance, reassurance of worth, and opportunity for nurturance). Discriminant function analyses were used to assess the unique contribution of these perceived and preferred provisions to participants energy expenditure. The results from the analyses indicated that none of the perceived provisions and none of the preferred provisions predicted high versus low expenditure, nor did the congruence relationship between the perceived and preferred variants of each provision predict high versus low energy expenditure. Potential explanations for the non-significant findings were highlighted with respect to study methodology. Directions for future research were also discussed.

Objectives: Advancements in womens reproductive technology have resulted in women having to face the decision whether to undergo prenatal testing (PNT). This study explored the factors involved in womens decisions around PNT and assessed the extent to which the decision making process differed between women that chose not to have PNT and those that chose to have PNT. The Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) was used as the theoretical framework. <p>Study Methods: 30 pregnant or recently pregnant women over the age of 35 participated in semi-structured interviews and completed a brief survey. Content analyses were completed on the interview transcripts, and correlational analyses were performed on the survey data. Results: Womens personal values, feelings of social support, and perceived competence played major roles in the decision process. Some women in this study indicated the PNT choice gave them a feeling of control and offered feelings of reassurance, while some said having to make the choice was a burden that they found difficult to bear. Women in the testing group appeared to place a great importance on the need for information, while women in the no testing group placed greater importance on the need for social support. Each testing group also appeared to differ in facets of their personal values, such as religiosity (only women in the no testing group discussed this issue) and need for a sense of control (only women in the testing group discussed this issue). The women in the no testing group showed higher levels of uncertainty and decisional conflict, and lower levels of decisional self-efficacy than women in the testing group. <p>Conclusions: Each testing group appears to be individual in their needs during PNT decision making. The study findings suggest women should be counseled differently depending on their supports, values, and need for knowledge regarding testing. The findings suggest that women opting against PNT experience elevated decisional distress, and perceive themselves to be less competent and more conflicted over the decision than women choosing PNT. Special attention to these women during the PNT decision may improve their feelings of being socially supported during the decision.