This thesis examined the social networks and the perceived social support of people who have been receiving case management services from a community mental health program. Specifically, I focused on individuals who have severe and persistent mental illness and who have been living on the streets, in homeless shelters and in other forms of inadequate housing, since there is some evidence that homelessness itself can have important ramifications for the social network. The study had several objectives. Firstly, I described the social networks (including the professional branch of the network) of participants. Next, I looked at the links between their objective social network features (such as total network size, number of professionals, number of 'close confidantes', etc.) and their well being (as measured by life satisfaction and community adaptation). I also examined the relationship between subjective social support and well-being. Finally, a qualitative analysis was conducted using an inductive content analysis approach. Participants were asked to describe the types of changes they would like to make in their relationships with family members, and they were asked about the changes they would like to make in their relationships with unrelated individuals. As expected, participants described abnormally small social networks, and there was an over-representation of mental health professionals. The regression analyses suggested that the objective aspects of the social network may not be as important as participants' beliefs about their relationships and their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their relationships. After controlling for the effects of gender and level of symptomatology, satisfaction with family relationships stood out as a predictor of overall life satisfaction. The qualitative results supported the quantitative results in some ways, but in other ways, the qualitative results contrasted with the quantitative. Participants were well aware that their social networks are small, and they wanted to have more friends. Importantly, they wanted to have friends who are "normal", i.e. friends who do not have mental health issues, friends who are socially acceptable and friends who look like valued members of society. In describing their family relationships, participants wanted to have more contact with their families and they wanted to feel more accepted by their families. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/29215 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Graham Bevan, Gillian |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 230 p. |
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