The Social Support Construct states that behavior is influenced by the following types of support:
emotional support (eg, listening, a sign of affection like a hug)
instrumental/tangible support (eg, financial assistance, babysitting)
informational support (eg, WebMD article, piece of advice)
appraisal/esteem support (eg, a vote of confidence, encouragement from someone: "I believe you can do this!")
The Social Support Construct has taught us that people are more likely to adopt new healthful behaviors if they have strong social support. Therefore, we incorporate mechanisms of emotional support, instrumental/tangible support, informational support, and appraisal/esteem support in the health promotion programs we design.
Click here or watch the video below to learn more.
Glanz K. Rimer B. Viswanath K., ed Health Behavior and Health Education: Theory Research and Practice. Chapter 9. 4th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2008. http://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/33271241/health_behavior___education.pdfAWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ56TQJRTWSMTNPEA&Expires=1467495365&Signature=gDRBexgQnDrGCmQqlriERSyhM2o%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B filename%3DHEALTH_BEHAVIOR_AND_HEALTH_EDUCATION_The.pdf - page=351. Accessed July 1, 2016.
Khan Academy. Social Support [YouTube Video]. 2014. Accessed July 1, 2016.
National Institutes of Health. e-Source: Behavior and Social Science Research. http://www.esourceresearch.org/Default.aspx?TabId=749. Accessed July 1, 2016.