Comparision of Group and Individual Social Support on Burden and Family Functioning in Families with Asthmatic Children

Jun, Hoa Yun

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to identify the effects of group social support and individual social support on the reduction of burden and improvement in family functioning of families with asthmatic children. The design of this study was a randomized pre-posttest quasi-experimental design to compare the two experimental groups. The theoretical framework for this study was derived from the study of burden in family caregivers by Suh and Oh(1993) based on the main effect model of social support theories. The data were collected from February 12, 1998 to May 29, 1998 at the pediatric out patient department of a university hospital located in Suwon city. The sample consisted of 39 family members who were identified as families with asthmatic children, Eighteen subjects were randomly assigned to the group social support group and 21 were assigned to the individual social support group. Group and individual social support members were seen for 60 to 90 minutes, four times over one to three weeks. The instruments used in this study were the Burden Scale developed by Suh and Oh(1993), the Visual Analogue Scale, and the Family Adaptability Cohesion Evaluation Scale(FACES-III) developed by Olson, Portner, and Lavee(1985). The collected data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney test, x2-test, Wilcoxon sign rank test, t-test, ANOVA(Scheff), pearson correlation coefficient, multiple regression, and social support process and content analysis. The results are as follow ; 1. There was no significant difference before the experimental treatment among the subjects in the group social support group and individual social support group for general characteristics, burden, or family functioning. 2. Hypothesis 1 ; "There will be a greater reduction on the burden score of the group social support group compared to the individual social support group" was not statistically significant(U=174.5, p=.683). The burden scores showed a significant decrease after participation in social support as compared to before participation for both groups. However there was a tendency for more reduction in the burden scores for the group social support than for individual social support. 3. Hypothesis 2 ; "There will be a greater improvement in the family functioning scores for the group social support group compared to the individual social support group" was not statistically significant(U=153.0, p=.309). There was a tendency toward improvement in the family functioning scores of the group social support as compared to that of the individual social support. 4. According to the length of the treatment period, families with asthmatic children displayed affirmative responses, and the families set up a self-help group of mothers with asthmatic children n order to share their experiences, to get information and to solve their problems. In conclusion, it was found that group social support was the more effective nursing intervention for reducing burden and for improving family functioning of families with asthmatic children.