User:MaryKPoe/sandbox

Supportive Communication is the support given, both verbal and nonverbal, in times of stress, heartbreak, physical and emotional distress, and other life stages that cause distress. The intention of this support is to assist those seen as being in need of such support. For example, individuals could be struggling with anger, frustration, hurt, and also physical distress, and Supportive Communication becomes a strategy utilized to help individuals cope with those feelings and experiences. At times, individuals do not like facing things alone, so they will seek Supportive Communication from family, friends, and other trusted sources. At other times, individuals such as family and friends will offer Supportive Communication to someone they feel is in need of such support. The impact of Supportive Communication has varied in research studies partially due to the reception of the communication. An individual may not receive the support in the intended way, or it may dredge up previous stress emotions and intensify them. The field of social support is still relatively new with the typologies below being discussed as recent as the mid to late 1970s.

Contents


 * 1
 * Background
 * 2
 * Types
 * 2.1
 * Nurturant support
 * 2.1.1
 * Emotional
 * 2.1.2
 * Esteem
 * 2.1.3
 * Network
 * 2.2
 * Action-facilitating support
 * 2.2.1
 * Informational
 * 2.2.2
 * Tangible
 * 3
 * Supportive communication in business
 * 4
 * Social media
 * 5
 * Disadvantages to Certain Supportive Communication Tactics
 * 6
 * References
 * 4
 * Social media
 * 5
 * Disadvantages to Certain Supportive Communication Tactics
 * 6
 * References
 * 6
 * References

Background[edit]
The research on the topic of supportive communication, or variations thereof, have fairly recent beginnings with most of the heavy research beginning in the mid to late 1970s. Early research recognized the role of communication in helping others specifically as a role of social support, which also garnered quite a bit of attention in this time period. As a form of social support, scholars found that, unlike the sociological and psychological perspectives of social support, the supportive communication aspect served a specific role in actual communication of support unlike the psychological perspective which is the perceived belief of support or the sociological perspective which is considered more of the role of social integration.

Research in Supportive Communication has utilized a typology of supportive behaviors created in the 1970s and 80's which includes emotional, esteem, network support, informational, and tangible. Through these typologies, researchers have been able to better study the impact of each of the support types.

Emotional[edit]
This type of supportive communication would be utilized to help those who are experiencing emotional distress. This emotional distress could be due to many environmental factors, some are listed above, but are all emotional stressors. The goal would be to help alleviate the pain on an emotional level, but cannot help necessarily on a physical level.

Esteem[edit]
The esteem type of supportive communication, in contrast to emotional supportive communication, would encourage the individual in need of support on a different level. This type of support would enhance the individuals feelings towards themselves. The support would highlight the individuals accomplishments, abilities, and/or their attributes in an effort to provide support when the supporter recognizes the need of social support.

Network[edit]
Network support is a type of support that gives the individual a sense of belonging among a group of individuals who may have experienced the same stressors that the individual is currently going through. This can be found by creating a group of individuals the person already knows, or joining a support group specifically categorized by the type of support the individual needs

Informational[edit]
On the other end of the spectrum from emotional or esteem, informational support us focused more on practical application of the support that is given. The practical applicability of this type of support can range from advice on what to do to feedback on what should not have been done. This type of support is also known as an action-facilitating support type which has the main goal of helping to solve the problem that is causing the stress.

Tangible[edit]
This type of support, much like the informational support, is considered an action-facilitating support type. The difference in tangible and informational is the action of assisting instead of just the advice, or verbal support. Tangible support would seek to provide money, housing, transportation, or other such services to help alleviate stressors in the individuals life.

Findings Related to Emotional vs. Informational Support
'''Emotional support has been linked to improving the health of college students who were under significant academic stress. Research has demonstrated that students who have high academic stress can develop depression or physical illnesses. However when students found they had supportive communication, academic stress was reduced. A research study also found that families who have children in the hospital with illnesses prefer nurses to provide emotional support.'''

'''For college students who were under significant academic stress according to a research study when students received informational supportive communication physical illnesses or depression can be deterred due to students receiving the academic support needed to alleviate high stress. Researchers found that families whose children have illnesses want their nurses to provide informational support to ensure they are on the same page with the treatments before and after the children leave. '''

Supportive Communication in Business[edit]
Supportive communication helps employees to communicate accurately and honestly without jeopardizing interpersonal relationships. Supportive communication aims to preserve the relationship employees have even if management or other employees have to correct or point out a mistake in someone's actions. For some, people rely on support from coworkers about a matter over family advice. Relevance of the relationship is important when deciding who to reach out to for support in order to get the accurate, best advice.

Supportive Communication via Supervisors
'''When supervisors provide supportive communication to their subordinates examples can include providing encouragement, standing behind them when negative situations might arise, pushing them to better themselves through their work performance or further professional development. It can also be provided when the supervisors take time to actively engage and listen to the subordinate's feelings. Research has shown leader-member-exchanges (LMX) when supervisors provide  high-quality supportive communication it causes the subordinates to want to improve their work quality. This can include but not be limited to increasing job performance, wanting to impress their supervisors and increasing job dedication.'''

Social Media[edit]
Social media has created a platform not only for sharing information, but also for individuals to seek Supportive Communication. Positive affirmation and communication in Social Media platforms have been linked in positive psychological benefits, reinforcing the idea of Supportive Communication helping in an emotional state. Social Media has also created for individuals the idea of social capital where individuals believe they have created a network that they can rely on when support is needed. Looking at the definition above for Social support, we can see how social media can potentially provide emotional, informational, esteem, and even network support.

With the open source structure of social media, a world of communication is opened for both positive and negative reinforcement. Bullying has become a prevalent concern when discussions occur regarding social media. Cyber bullying can occur because of race, sexual orientation, age, and political preference, among other attributes. Bullied individuals, specifically, can experience real life impact outside the digital world. This experience, without the Supportive Communication of their network, can lead to stress, anxiety, and other social factors impacting their daily lives. Emotional, informational, esteem, and network supportive communication can be an especially beneficial to the individuals experiencing the bullying as they receive the communication they are valued and cared for.

Social Media and Well-Being
According to research, there are further mechanisms of how social interaction can improve the well-being of others and two main areas are the need of belonging and relationships maintenance. '''Using social media for forms of supportive communication research has shown improvement to psychological well-being because it gives people a resource to maintain friendships that might be harder to keep up. For more information see also Relationship Maintenance.'''

The Need to Belong
'''People like to be social and have a desire to connect with friends, family, and groups on a daily basis. They rely on knowing that they are needed among others and social media sites can create strong connection ties that can have that need satisfied. According to research, the media can create more potential opportunities for people to connect easier. The study also found that those in social isolation used the media as a simple way to continue to stay connected without needing face-to-face communication. Connectedness relates to the need to belong because it is a positive outcome for those who maintain their social ties and can have positive well-being and higher amounts of happiness. Disadvantages that follow with replacing personal communication with high amounts of media use can create additional problems with overall well-being.'''

Disadvantages to Certain Supportive Communication Tactics
Brant Burleson and John Greene '''discuss in the Handbook of Communication and Social Interaction Skills that depending on the giver and the receiver of the communication, if the giver does not provide the right support then it could result in many consequences. Such as the matter could be made worse, the receiver could have a downward spiral by exhibiting even greater amounts of stress that could damage overall health. Burleson and Green listed below are some examples of other disadvantages include the following:'''


 * Telling a recipient that "I completely understand what you are going through" this can be unhelpful because the recipient of the support might need confirmation that what they are going through or feeling is valid. They might need to talk more in depth about the situation.
 * Providing certain advice for situations can be viewed as unhelpful if the recipient did not ask for the advice.
 * Telling a recipient, "Everything will work out in the end."
 * Trying to distract a recipient from the situation can backfire. The giver of this support should only use this tactic if fully confident that the outcome will work and it should only be used if appropriate for the situation.
 * Another disadvantage to using supportive communication can be if the giver condemns the recipients feelings or how they are choosing to handle a situation.
 * It is unhelpful to tell a recipient to forget about their feelings or not worry about the situation until a later time.
 * A final disadvantage is if a giver tries to be over-involved with the recipient's situation. This could not only be unhelpful but the giver poses the risk of jeopardizing the relationship all together.

Visible versus Invisible Support
'''Visible support is direct and easily picked up by partners. For example, when the receiver directly asks for advice or requests help from others. Visible support can quickly improve the relationship because recipients are searching for immediate assistance from others in relieving their issues. Visible support can show more benefits because high stress situations can make receivers jump into action faster. Researchers found that visible support offered more benefit to the well-being of the relationship when recipients were in high amounts of distress and needed more care and attention from their partners. Visible support benefits the well-being of relationships because when high distressed recipients can feel immediately supported and can return focus to achieving goals.'''

'''Invisible support is subtle and and at times not always immediately picked up by the receiver of the support. For example, when a partner does something for their spouse without asking, or when a supervisor is there for a subordinate when things might come up. This can be beneficial because the support given shifts the focus on the problem to the goals that can be achieved. Due to the fact that invisible support can have delayed reactions from the recipient, relationships tend to improve within the following days. This can also make partners appreciate their spouses or subordinates with their managers because the invisible support received bettered the relationship and overall satisfaction was established once the recipient realized the full capacity of dependence and caring from the giver of the support.'''

Disadvantages of Visible Support
'''There are also disadvantages that come with visible support. Recipients of the support can feel inferior and require frequent consultations from those whom they seek advice. In some cases, the support can cause heightened anxiety or depression. Girme, Overall and Simpson also found that visible support can have negative effects for recipients who do not ask for reassurance or are not upset.'''