Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, 02115, MA, USA.
Network Science Institute, Northeastern University, Boston, 02115, MA, USA.
Nat Commun. 2018 Sep 26;9(1):3930. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-06408-6.
Social networks are conduits of support, information, and health behavior flows. Existing measures of social networks used in clinical research are typically summative scales of social support or artificially truncated networks of ≤ 5 people. Here, we introduce a quantitative social network assessment tool on a secure open-source web platform, readily deployable in large-scale clinical studies. The tool maps an individual's personal network, including specific persons, their relationships to each other, and their health habits. To demonstrate utility, we used the tool to measure the social networks of 1493 persons at risk of multiple sclerosis. We examined each person's social network in relation to self-reported neurological disability. We found that the characteristics of persons surrounding the participant, such as negative health behaviors, were strongly associated with the individual's functional disability. This quantitative assessment reveals the key elements of individuals' social environments that could be targeted in clinical trials.
社交网络是支持、信息和健康行为流动的渠道。目前在临床研究中使用的社交网络测量方法通常是社交支持的综合量表，或是人为截断到 ≤ 5 人的网络。在这里，我们在一个安全的开源网络平台上引入了一种定量社交网络评估工具，可在大规模临床研究中轻松部署。该工具绘制了个人的社交网络，包括具体的人、他们之间的关系以及他们的健康习惯。为了证明其效用，我们使用该工具测量了 1493 名多发性硬化症高危人群的社交网络。我们检查了每个人的社交网络与自我报告的神经功能障碍之间的关系。我们发现，围绕参与者的人的特征，如负面健康行为，与个体的功能残疾密切相关。这种定量评估揭示了个体社交环境的关键要素，这些要素可能成为临床试验的目标。
