Person Bobbie, Bartholomew L Kay, Addiss David, van den Borne Bart
National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-C14, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA.
Patient Educ Couns. 2007 Nov;68(3):279-86. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2007.06.015. Epub 2007 Aug 17.
The objectives of this paper were to identify specific factors associated with intact or disrupted social connectedness among Dominican women with chronic filarial lymphedema and better understand the impact of disrupted connectedness on their lives.
Data were collected through 28 individual interviews and 3 focus group discussions of 28 women from filariasis-endemic areas of the Dominican Republic presenting with lymphedema of one or both legs.
The confluence of chronic and acute stressors with severity of lymphedema lead women to rely on others for social support. Women described complications of aging, disability, reduced social networks, and inability to adhere to cultural scripts as contributing to disrupted social connectedness.
Social disconnectedness appears to exacerbate the negative consequences of living with lymphedema among women. Social connectedness and cultural scripts often define a social role for women that transcend physical deformity and disability, while disrupted social connectedness contributes to social isolation, depressive symptoms, and poor health outcomes.
Further behavioral research into the contribution of intact social connectedness to resiliency and coping is warranted in order to develop effective interventions for women. Identifying women with disrupted social connectedness and engaging them in behavioral interventions to enhance natural social networks and create new or enhanced social support opportunities may mitigate the negative effects of social disconnectedness and improve quality of life.
本文的目的是确定与患有慢性丝虫性淋巴水肿的多米尼加女性完整或中断的社会联系相关的具体因素，并更好地理解社会联系中断对她们生活的影响。
通过对来自多米尼加共和国丝虫病流行地区的28名单腿或双腿患有淋巴水肿的女性进行28次个人访谈和3次焦点小组讨论来收集数据。
慢性和急性应激源与淋巴水肿严重程度的共同作用导致女性依赖他人获得社会支持。女性将衰老并发症、残疾、社交网络减少以及无法遵循文化规范描述为导致社会联系中断的因素。
社会脱节似乎会加剧女性淋巴水肿患者生活的负面后果。社会联系和文化规范通常为女性定义了超越身体畸形和残疾的社会角色，而社会联系中断则会导致社会孤立、抑郁症状和不良健康后果。
有必要进一步开展行为研究，以探讨完整的社会联系对恢复力和应对能力的贡献，从而为女性制定有效的干预措施。识别社会联系中断的女性，并让她们参与行为干预，以加强自然社交网络并创造新的或增强的社会支持机会，可能会减轻社会脱节的负面影响并提高生活质量。
