Perceived social support and family meeting attendance preferences among family medicine outpatients.

Although there is much social science literature about social support, relatively little is known about the extent and sources of support that family medicine patients perceive to be available to them. A questionnaire requesting ratings of perceived informational, instrumental, emotional, and crisis support in a variety of relationships was administered to 101 family practice center outpatients. Results indicated strong perceptions of available support overall, with highest levels perceived from partners and parents. Notably, however, strong support was also perceived from extrafamilial sources, surpassing that of other categories of biological relatives. Levels of perceived support from particular people also varied according to type of support being rated. Finally, patients expressed strong preferences for inviting both immediate family members and supportive extrafamilial persons to hospital meetings with physicians to discuss serious medical problems. Results are consistent with a multifactorial model of social support and suggest that physicians should take a broad social systems perspective in assessing patient resources and negotiating attendance at family meetings.