Social Network Influences on Illness Self Management

本研究的目的是探讨家庭和朋友对老年人自我管理的影响，自我管理是老年人自我护理的一个重要方面，对老年人的幸福感和医疗保健费用有重要意义。自我管理发生在家庭和朋友的网络中，他们可能以各种方式促进或阻碍自我管理过程。然而，社会背景下，老年人试图管理他们的慢性病还没有得到很好的理解。本项目的具体目标包括：（1）识别和描述家庭成员和朋友在老年人慢性病自我管理中所扮演的各种角色;（2）识别和描述家庭成员和朋友在老年人慢性病自我管理中所扮演的各种角色;（2）识别社交网络成员的具体方式（即家庭和朋友）积极和消极地影响老年人的自我管理行为;（3）研究社会网络在老年人自我管理中的作用是否因性别、种族或疾病而不同;（4）为评估老年人自我管理行为的相关社会背景的测量工具生成项目。将对正在管理三种慢性疾病之一的老年人进行12次焦点小组访谈。为便于比较，将按性别、种族和疾病分组。定性数据将采用扎根理论方法进行分析，以深入了解社交网络成员在自我管理过程中的作用。数据分析的重点是确定家庭和朋友参与自我管理的程度，这种参与发生的方式，以及这种参与对自我管理产生积极或消极影响的程度。这些数据将用于开发第一代项目，用于评估重要社交网络成员在自我管理中的作用。研究结果将为考虑家人和朋友的具体作用的尾干预措施的制定提供信息，以最大限度地提高积极的健康结果。

The purpose of this research is to explore the influence of family and friends on older adults' self-management is a significant aspect of older adults' self-care and has important implications for the well-being of older-adults and for health care costs. Self-management occurs within a network of family and friends who may facilitate or impede the self- management process in a variety of ways. Yet the social context within which older adults attempt to manage their chronic illnesses is not well understood. The specific aims of the present project include: (1) to identify and describe the various roles that family members and friends play in older adults' chronic illness self-management; (2) to identify and describe the various roles that family members and friends play in older adults; chronic illness self-management; (2) to identify the specific ways in which social network members (i.e. family and friends) positively and negatively influence older adults' self- management behavior; (3) to examine whether the role of the social network in older adults' self- management differs by gender, race or disease; and (4) to generate items for a measurement instrument that assesses pertinent social contexts of older adults' self-management behavior. Twelve focus group interviews will be conducted with older adults who are managing one of three chronic illnesses. To facilitate comparisons, groups will be composed according to gender, race and disease. Qualitative data will be analyzed with a grounded theory approach to develop an in-depth understanding of the role of social network members in the self-management process. Data analysis will focus on determining the extent to which family and friends are involved in self-management, the ways in which this involvement occurs, and the extent to which this involvement positively or negatively influences self-management The analysis will also provide insight into the mechanisms by which social network influence exerts its effects. The data will be used to develop a first generation of items for a measurement assessing the role of important social network members in self- management. Results will inform the development of tailed interventions that account for the specific roles of family and friends in order to maximize positive health outcomes.