The Adapted DUKE-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire in a Community Sample of Portuguese Parents

Abstract

Purpose: Social support measures have generated empirical evidence of helping relationships and their role in family functioning and well-being. Social support networks affect parental practices and the ways in which families overcome stressful life events. Thus, it is important to gather knowledge about the different forms of support that families can benefit from. The aim of this study was to translate, adapt, and validate the Portuguese version of the Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire (FSSQ), a three dimension measure (confidant support, affective support, and instrumental support), Method: 1058 Portuguese parents participated in the study. They were mostly married/cohabiting and employed mothers. The Portuguese version of the FSSQ contained 13 items distributed into 3 subdimensions. The data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and the study of Pearson correlations. Results: The FSSQ original three-factor structure was supported by confirmatory factor analysis and the instrument showed good internal consistency. Confidant support and Instrumental support were negatively associated with Permissive parenting and Affective support was negatively associated with Authoritative parenting and Permissive parenting. All three dimensions showed low and positive correlations with Authoritarian parenting. Discussion: The Portuguese version of the FSSQ met adequate psychometric criteria and can be confidently used in family assessments of social support, whenever a brief, self-administered questionnaire would be useful for community services providers

Functional social support: A systematic review and standardized comparison of different versions of the DUFSS questionnaire using the EMPRO tool

“…Of the 15 studies included, 73.3% of them examined the 11-item version while the rest start from the 8-item and 14-item version in equal parts (13.3% each). The studies that used the 11-item version as a reference were carried out in Spanish-speaking countries [15,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] and in European countries, Italy [33] and Portugal [34], while those that used the 8-item and 14-item versions were carried out in English-speaking countries [16,[35][36][37], mostly in the USA.…”

Cognition and emotional distress in middle-aged and older adults with spina bifida myelomeningocele

“…Higher scores indicate greater perceived social support. The FSSQ is widely used in research on both somatic and psychiatric illnesses, and is reported to have good psychometric properties and Cronbach alpha level of 0.92 [ 43 , 44 ].…”

Disparities in household material hardship, financial toxicity, and income loss in pediatric cancer

“…Social support is a construct that includes emotional (affection, companionship), tangible (help with tasks, material assistance), and informational support (advice, guidance). 28 In parents of children with cancer, social support has been positively associated with adaptive factors, like resilience, posttraumatic growth, and improved health outcomes, 29,30 and negatively associated with maladaptive factors, like depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. 30 One study found that social support was associated with financial difficulty.…”