Support from others and health

Support from others and health
The course materials have helped me learn many different ideas about social support and health. Also, the course materials are useful and help students learn more about the course as a whole.

In health promotion, it is especially important to understand how people interact with each other socially. Most people always need help from family, friends, peers, the community, and other groups to do things that are good for their health. This help changes over the course of a person’s life. A social network puts together social relationships and ties based on what they have in common. (Holt-Lunstad & Uchino, 2015). So, it’s important to do a social network review with an adult, come up with a plan to meet their social needs, and list three ways to increase their social support along with why they work.

Review of Social Networks
The chosen person is an adult with diabetes who is 58 years old. For the social network review, the hierarchical mapping of social network tool will be used. The method uses concentric circles that get bigger from the center outward. (Holt-Lunstad & Uchino, 2015).

From the evaluation, the following were found to be true. The adult can’t live without his two girls, who are married and live a bit away from the rest of the family. (circle 1). Also, the client’s health got worse when he lost his wife a month ago. In circle 2, the adults say that his four younger brothers are important to him and that they are close, but not as close as those in circle 1. Also, in circle 3, the adults name two friends, a neighbor, the pastor, and his grandchildren as people who are important enough to be in his network. In circle 4, the adult writes down the name of one doctor he has seen since he turned 50.

Also, the adult lives by himself with a dog and close neighbors. He stays inside most of the time and talks to most people in his network twice a month. There are a number of social support and self-help groups in the area, but he does not belong to any of them.

A plan to help people in need

The review shows that the client does not have a strong group of friends. This has mostly to do with the size, weight, strength, and how well they work together. Someone close to the client needs to stay with him. Also, it’s important to have a bigger social network and talk to more people in a month. Also, the adult doesn’t have enough social support, so he or she could get depressed, anxious, or have a bad outlook. In general, there is a need to give adults more social help.

Three ways to get more help from others

The first step is to get more help from family. The most important source of social support is family. A person’s social support is largely based on how well their family works together and how quick they are. You can talk to the adult’s other family members and teach them how to help him and how that can improve his health and security. Family can help by listening carefully, putting people at ease, helping with chores, and giving good ideas and advice. Exactly, one person of the family can stay with the adult, and the amount of interaction between the members of the circle and two with the adults went up, as Nguyen et al. found. (2016). This is a key part of getting more social help.

The second plan is to put the adult in a group of people who can help them. (self-help group or religious group). Latkin and Knowlton (2015) say that social support groups make people stronger and make it easier for them to reach their life goals. They also help make a setting that is good for health, lower the risk of stress disorders, and give positive feedback. Most of these groups have similar social problems or needs. This helps people feel less alone and brings them closer together. So, the person should join a group of people who can help them.

The third step is to suggest that the person join a peer support group. Peer support groups are made up of different people who work together to help others. Peers are people who are the same age, gender, and have had the same kinds of life events. Peer support can be given in person, over the phone, or through self-help clubs. Peer groups are also important because they provide social, instrumental, and assessment support. Peer support will help the person change bad habits into good ones. There are services like teaching, counseling, and making friends. (Holt-Lunstad & Uchino, 2015). So, the adult should use this solution to get more help from his friends.

Conclusion

It is important to look at people’s social networks, figure out what they need, and come up with ways to meet those needs. Improving social support requires a lot of things, such as more help from family, more peer support, and social support groups. This will help avoid some health problems and improve the mental and physical health of the person. So, the social support system is a very important part of health habit and health promotion.

References

Holt-Lunstad, J., & Uchino, B. N. (2015). Social support and health. Health behavior: Theory, research and practice, 183-204.

Latkin, C. A., & Knowlton, A. R. (2015). Social Network Assessments and Interventions for Health Behavior Change: A Critical Review. Behavioral medicine (Washington, D.C.), 41(3), 90–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/08964289.2015.1034645

Nguyen, A. W., Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., & Mouzon, D. M. (2016). Social Support from Family and Friends and Subjective Well-Being of Older African Americans. Journal of happiness studies, 17(3), 959–979. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9626-8

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