Friendship, Social Support, & Health
An article appeared in today’s Indianapolis Star on the positive effects of friendships on health. The article talked about how friends can provide “a security blanket,” particularly for women.
In reading the article, I could not help but think about work by Seppo Iso-Ahola and Denis Coleman that was published in the Journal of Leisure Research in 1993. This article was “Leisure and Health: Social Support and Self-Determination.” The article discussed research and theory on how social support and self-determined activities positively affected health.
More recently, my colleague at Indiana University, Bryan McCormick has written and researched on the effects of friendship and social support in the lives of persons with mental illness. Bryan’s work has clearly shown the importance of building social skills to the success of those with problems in mental health.
I would hope that RTs see the importance of helping their clients to establish friendship skills and building social networks. There certainly is research to suggest the importance these play in both mental and physical heatlh.
This morning’s Star article listed “Six Ways to be a Good Friend” (attributed to Laurie Pawlik-Klenlen, health/psychology writer, www.suite101.com). I thought these were good enough to pass on – so RTs might help their clients using these tips. Here they are:
1. Spend time together. Do things with friends – walks, fitness classes, going out to dinner, talking on the phone and emailing.
2. Make friends a priority. Give attention to your friendships.
3. Be there for the good and bad. Funerals, weddings, surgeries, and celebrations are all important.
4. Don’t keep score. Don’t worry about who called who last or who spent the most on gifts.
5. Notice the little stuff. Stay in touch with the day-to-day happenings in your friends’ lives.
6. Focus on the positive. Focus on your friends’ strengths and good qualities.
In reading the article, I could not help but think about work by Seppo Iso-Ahola and Denis Coleman that was published in the Journal of Leisure Research in 1993. This article was “Leisure and Health: Social Support and Self-Determination.” The article discussed research and theory on how social support and self-determined activities positively affected health.
More recently, my colleague at Indiana University, Bryan McCormick has written and researched on the effects of friendship and social support in the lives of persons with mental illness. Bryan’s work has clearly shown the importance of building social skills to the success of those with problems in mental health.
I would hope that RTs see the importance of helping their clients to establish friendship skills and building social networks. There certainly is research to suggest the importance these play in both mental and physical heatlh.
This morning’s Star article listed “Six Ways to be a Good Friend” (attributed to Laurie Pawlik-Klenlen, health/psychology writer, www.suite101.com). I thought these were good enough to pass on – so RTs might help their clients using these tips. Here they are:
1. Spend time together. Do things with friends – walks, fitness classes, going out to dinner, talking on the phone and emailing.
2. Make friends a priority. Give attention to your friendships.
3. Be there for the good and bad. Funerals, weddings, surgeries, and celebrations are all important.
4. Don’t keep score. Don’t worry about who called who last or who spent the most on gifts.
5. Notice the little stuff. Stay in touch with the day-to-day happenings in your friends’ lives.
6. Focus on the positive. Focus on your friends’ strengths and good qualities.
posted by Hoosier RT | 9:35 AM
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