The effects of social support networks on the health of the elderly.

This is a study of the relationship between social support networks and health of the elderly. The aim was to identify and measure the specific dimensions (characteristics) of a social support network and determine which have the greatest effect on an older person's health status. Also, the study examined the collective effect of all measurable dimensions of the network on health status. The major finding was that there was a high statistical correlation between the social support network and health. This provides objective research evidence to what has been suspected intuitively by social workers. That is, knowledge about the social support network is important in assessing health.