Purpose: To provide a comprehensive and up-to-date literature review of social support and a description of available assessment measures in order to facilitate a theoretical and operational framework for incorporating social support in rehabilitation interventions.
Method: An overview of the different theoretical models and conceptual dimensions and a description of specific measures of social support are given. The implications of social support assessment for rehabilitation and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Conclusion: To move forward in this area, a consensus on the definition and dimensions of social support needs to occur which could be obtained through an evaluation of existing measures 1. Practitioners and researchers in rehabilitation need to study measures of social support in order to provide empirical support for scales used in professional practice and in research to expand understanding of this important construct.