Major Effect Models of Social Support and Its Statistical Methods in Korean Nursing Research

Lee, Eun Hyun; Kim, Jin Sun

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is 1) to explain major effect models (main, moderating, and mediating) of social support and statistical methods for testing the effect models and 2) to analyze and evaluate the consistency in the use of the effect models and its statistical methods in Korean nursing studies. A total of 57 studies were selected from Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing, Journal of Korean Academic Society of Adult Nursing, Journal of Korean Women's Health Nursing Academic Society, Journal of Fundamentals of Nursing, Journal of Korean Community Nursing, Journal of Korean Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Academic Society, and Journal of Korean Pediatric Nursing Academic Society published in the year of 1990-1999. In results, most studies on social support performed in Korea Nursing Society were about a main effect model. There are few studies on moderating or mediating model of social support. Thus, it was difficult to find research findings how, why, under what conditions social support impacted on health outcomes. Most studies on the moderating or mediating effect model of social support used statistical methods for testing main effect model rather than for testing moderating or mediating effect model. That is, there are inconsistency between effect models of social support and its statistical methods in Korean nursing researches. Therefore, it is recommended to perform studies on moderating or mediating effect model and use appropriate statistical methods.