Social Networks

Social Networks

Introduction

Social network perspectives aim to understand behavior through social relationships that shape everyday lives and experiences through exposure, consultation, resource sharing, suggestion, support, and nagging. While many epidemiological studies incorporate networks into their analysis of risk and protective factors, the most detailed theoretical frameworks address issues related to service use. For example, the health belief model, which focuses on whether individuals seek out preventive or curative medical services, incorporates social networks into its concept of normative influence. “Others” shape individuals' views of the efficacy and applicability of services. The only existing network-based theory synthesizes work from a number of relevant traditions (O'Reilly, 2007).

House and Kahn (1985) suggest that going beyond a network of five to ten really close relationships yields little in predicting heath outcomes. On the other hand, others have indicated that while a small, densely connected network may be useful for emotional support at critical times, the ability to readjust and to make transitions to new circumstances may reflect the strength of weak, distant, and less homogeneous connections (O'Reilly, 2007).

(O'Reilly, 2007) provides an excellent account of the issues involved in obtaining reliable indicators for a variety of social interactions and for examining differences between the network as depicted and the degree of satisfaction that occurs with it.

Literature Review

Network assessment can have clinical uses as well. Among organization therapists, one major direction of work has been the effort to plot and to rekindle relationships between the individual and the organization of origin (Bowen, 1978). Also, organization network therapy has aimed at rekindling the broader network as the actual agent for intervention at times of crisis (Speck & Attneave, 1973). A measure that is particularly well designed for use in clinical practice is the Personal Network Map. The Personal Network Map is illustrated in Figure 1.

Methods

Data Mining Solutions

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