Conceptualizing social support in families of children with special health needs.

The concept of social support is used increasingly to understand families and their functioning. While conceptualization of the support process is regrettably absent for much research on families, earlier models developed for examining social support of individuals can enlighten research on families. The history of the social support concept is presented along with an overview of current typologies of social support and models of how it impacts physical and mental health. Research on the social support of families with children with special needs is reviewed relative to these issues. Greater recognition of a comprehensive model of support is advocated. Recommendations are made for longitudinal research on temporal patterns of utilization and satisfaction with support, and for consideration of cultural contexts in interpreting social supports.