The relationship between social support and health in gay men with HIV/AIDS: an integrative review.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the existing research on the relationship between social support and health in gay men with HIV/AIDS. After literature review, 24 studies that met inclusion criteria were analyzed. It was found that the research could be divided into three distinct groups: (a) those studies that focused on the social networks of gay men and the role of significant others in regard to social support, (b) those studies that focused on coping and its relationship to social support, and (c) those studies that attempted to relate social support to other concepts such as hardiness, hope, depression, and illness concerns. A discussion of findings and conclusions are presented along with recommendations for future nursing knowledge development and practice.