Supportive communication

Last updated

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. [1] 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. [2] 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. [2] The field of social support is still relatively new with the typologies below being discussed as recent as the mid to late 1970s.

Contents

Background

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. [1]

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.

Types

Nurturant support

Emotional

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. [3]

Esteem

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. [4]

Network

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. [5]

Action-facilitating support

Informational

On the other end of the spectrum from emotional or esteem, informational support is 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. [5]

Tangible

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. [5]

Supportive communication in business

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. [4]

Social media

Social media has created a platform not only for sharing information, but also for individuals to seek Supportive Communication. [6] 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. [7] Looking at the definition above for Social support, we can see how social media can potentially provide emotional, informational, esteem, and even network support. [8]

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. [9] 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. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

In social psychology, an interpersonal relation describes a social association, connection, or affiliation between two or more persons. It overlaps significantly with the concept of social relations, which are the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences. Relations vary in degrees of intimacy, self-disclosure, duration, reciprocity, and power distribution. The main themes or trends of the interpersonal relations are: family, kinship, friendship, love, marriage, business, employment, clubs, neighborhoods, ethical values, support and solidarity. Interpersonal relations may be regulated by law, custom, or mutual agreement, and form the basis of social groups and societies. They appear when people communicate or act with each other within specific social contexts, and they thrive on equitable and reciprocal compromises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bullying</span> Use of force or coercion to abuse or intimidate others

Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception of an imbalance of physical or social power. This imbalance distinguishes bullying from conflict. Bullying is a subcategory of aggressive behavior characterized by hostile intent, imbalance of power and repetition over a period of time.

Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviors and can be individual or social. To cope is to deal with and overcome struggles and difficulties in life. It is a way for people to maintain their mental and emotional well-being. Everybody has ways of handling difficult events that occur in life, and that is what it means to cope. Coping can be healthy and productive, or destructive and unhealthy. It is recommended that an individual cope in ways that will be beneficial and healthy. "Managing your stress well can help you feel better physically and psychologically and it can impact your ability to perform your best."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social support</span> Support systems for individuals

Social support is the perception and actuality that one is cared for, has assistance available from other people, and most popularly, that one is part of a supportive social network. These supportive resources can be emotional, informational, or companionship ; tangible or intangible. Social support can be measured as the perception that one has assistance available, the actual received assistance, or the degree to which a person is integrated in a social network. Support can come from many sources, such as family, friends, pets, neighbors, coworkers, organizations, etc.

Relational aggression, alternative aggression, or relational bullying is a type of aggression in which harm is caused by damaging someone's relationships or social status.

Caring in intimate relationships is the practice of providing care and support to an intimate relationship partner. Caregiving behaviours are aimed at reducing the partner's distress and supporting their coping efforts in situations of either threat or challenge. Caregiving may include emotional support and/or instrumental support. Effective caregiving behaviour enhances the care-recipient's psychological well-being, as well as the quality of the relationship between the caregiver and the care-recipient. However, certain suboptimal caregiving strategies may be either ineffective or even detrimental to coping.

Workplace bullying is a persistent pattern of mistreatment from others in the workplace that causes either physical or emotional harm. It can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, and physical abuse, as well as humiliation. This type of workplace aggression is particularly difficult because, unlike the typical school bully, workplace bullies often operate within the established rules and policies of their organization and their society. In the majority of cases, bullying in the workplace is reported as having been done by someone who has authority over the victim. However, bullies can also be peers, and subordinates. When subordinates participate in bullying this phenomenon is known as upwards bullying. The least visible segment of workplace bullying involves upwards bullying where bullying tactics are manipulated and applied against “the boss,” usually for strategically designed outcomes.

In psychology, the theory of attachment can be applied to adult relationships including friendships, emotional affairs, adult romantic and carnal relationships and, in some cases, relationships with inanimate objects. Attachment theory, initially studied in the 1960s and 1970s primarily in the context of children and parents, was extended to adult relationships in the late 1980s. The working models of children found in Bowlby's attachment theory form a pattern of interaction that is likely to continue influencing adult relationships.

Youth suicide is when a young person, generally categorized as someone below the legal age of majority, deliberately ends their own life. Rates of youth suicide and attempted youth suicide in Western societies and other countries are high. Youth suicide attempts are more common among girls, but adolescent males are the ones who usually carry out suicide. Suicide rates in youths have nearly tripled between the 1960s and 1980s. For example, in Australia suicide is second only to motor vehicle accidents as its leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 25.

Relational transgressions occur when people violate implicit or explicit relational rules. These transgressions include a wide variety of behaviors. The boundaries of relational transgressions are permeable. Betrayal for example, is often used as a synonym for a relational transgression. In some instances, betrayal can be defined as a rule violation that is traumatic to a relationship, and in other instances as destructive conflict or reference to infidelity.

An informal or primary caregiver is an individual in a cancer patient's life that provides unpaid assistance and cancer-related care. Caregiving is defined as the processing of assiting someone who can't care for themselves, which includes physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual needs. Due to the typically late onset of cancer, caregivers are often the spouses and/or children of patients, but may also be parents, other family members, or close friends. Taking care of family members at home is a complicated experience. The relationships involved constantly shift and change, in expected and unexpected ways. The expected or expected changes can negatively affect physical health, emotions, social life, and spiritual well-being of the caregiver. Informal caregivers are a major form of support for the cancer patient because they provide most care outside of the hospital environment. This support includes:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interpersonal communication</span> Exchange of information among people

Interpersonal communication is an exchange of information between two or more people. It is also an area of research that seeks to understand how humans use verbal and nonverbal cues to accomplish several personal and relational goals. Communication includes utilizing communication skills within one's surroundings, including physical and psychological spaces. It is essential to see the visual/nonverbal and verbal cues regarding the physical spaces. In the psychological spaces, self-awareness and awareness of the emotions, cultures, and things that are not seen are also significant when communicating.

Peer victimization is the experience among children of being a target of the aggressive behavior of other children, who are not siblings and not necessarily age-mates.

Money disorders refer to problematic financial beliefs and behaviors that can cause significant distress and hinder one's social or occupational well-being. These issues often stem from financial stress or an inability to effectively utilize one's financial resources, leading to clinically significant challenges. Money disorders refer to enduring and often unchanging patterns of self-destructive financial behaviors that lead to considerable stress, anxiety, emotional anguish, and significant disruptions in various areas of a person's life.

Cognitive emotional behavioral therapy (CEBT) is an extended version of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) aimed at helping individuals to evaluate the basis of their emotional distress and thus reduce the need for associated dysfunctional coping behaviors. This psychotherapeutic intervention draws on a range of models and techniques including dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), mindfulness meditation, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and experiential exercises.

Family estrangement is the loss of a previously existing relationship between family members, through physical and/or emotional distancing, often to the extent that there is negligible or no communication between the individuals involved for a prolonged period.

Bullying is abusive social interaction between peers and can include aggression, harassment, and violence. Bullying is typically repetitive and enacted by those who are in a position of power over the victim. A growing body of research illustrates a significant relationship between bullying and emotional intelligence.

In psychology, invisible support is a type of social support in which supportive exchanges are not visible to recipients.

Race-based traumatic stress is the traumatic response to stress following a racial encounter. Robert T. Carter's (2007) theory of race-based traumatic stress implies that there are individuals of color who experience racial discrimination as traumatic, and often generate responses similar to post-traumatic stress. Race-based traumatic stress combines theories of stress, trauma and race-based discrimination to describe a particular response to negative racial encounters.

Communal coping is the collective effort of members of a connected network to manage a distressing event. This definition and the scope of the concept positions communal coping as an offshoot of social support. According to Lyons et al. (1998), the communal coping conceptual framework emerged for two reasons. First, to expand the research that supports the claim that the coping process sometimes requires individual and collective effort. Second, the need for a specific framework for investigating the cooperative characteristic of coping. To support the need for a framework which explores the social aspect of coping as a combined effort, the authors argued that the communal coping conceptual framework emphasizes the connectedness and reliance on personal network for coping. Developments to the communal coping framework include the explanation of the complex nature of the communal coping process and specific personal outcomes following a communal coping process.

References

  1. 1 2 Knapp, M.L.; Daly, J.A. (2011). The Sage handbook of interpersonal communication (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications. ISBN   9781412974745. OCLC   731536397.
  2. 1 2 Pederson, J.R.; Mclaren, R.M. (2017). "Indirect effects of supportive communication during conversations about coping with relational transgressions". Personal Relationships. 24 (4): 804–819. doi:10.1111/pere.12214. ISSN   1350-4126.
  3. Burleson, B. R. (1985). "The Production of Comforting Messages: Social-Cognitive Foundations". Journal of Language and Social Psychology. 4 (3–4): 253–273. doi:10.1177/0261927X8543006. ISSN   0261-927X.
  4. 1 2 David Allred Whetten; Kim S. Cameron (2002). Developing Management Skills. Prentice Hall. ISBN   978-0-13-091408-8.
  5. 1 2 3 Cutrona, C.E.; Suhr, J.A. (1992). "Controllability of Stressful Events and Satisfaction With Spouse Support Behaviors". Communication Research. 19 (2): 154–174. doi:10.1177/009365092019002002. ISSN   0093-6502.
  6. Li, Siyue; Zhang, Guanjin (2021). "Supportive communication on social networking sites: The impact of post valence and relational closeness on support provision". Telematics and Informatics. 63. Elsevier BV: 101657. doi:10.1016/j.tele.2021.101657. ISSN   0736-5853. Although broadcasting a support-seeking message to a wide audience enhances a support seeker's chance to be helped, the variations in relational closeness may also complicate the process of supportive communication.
  7. High, A.C.; Buehler, E.M. (2019). "Receiving supportive communication from Facebook friends: A model of social ties and supportive communication in social network sites". Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. 36 (3): 719–740. doi:10.1177/0265407517742978. ISSN   0265-4075.
  8. Cutrona, C.E. (1986). "Behavioral manifestations of social support: A microanalytic investigation". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 51 (1): 201–208. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.1.201. ISSN   1939-1315.
  9. 1 2 High, A.C.; Young, R. (2018). "Supportive communication from bystanders of cyberbullying: indirect effects and interactions between source and message characteristics". Journal of Applied Communication Research. 46 (1): 28–51. doi:10.1080/00909882.2017.1412085. ISSN   0090-9882.