Social Support patterns in Primary Health Care: differences between having physical diseases or mental disorders.

The social support network is a health protective factor involving physical, mental and psychological aspects, providing a better quality of life, favoring better adaptation to adverse conditions, promoting resilience and mobilizing resources for a more effective coping with negative life events that can lead to illness. We aimed to analyze the association between physical diseases, common mental disorders and the social support network of patients serviced at primary care facilities in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo through a cross-sectional study with 1,466 patients in the 18-65 years age group. We used the Social Network Index (SNI) to assess the support network through the categories of isolation and integration.

Different patterns of social support perceived and their association with physical (hypertension, diabetes) or mental diseases in the context of primary health care.

This work discusses the relationship between hypertension, diabetes, anxiety, depression, and social support in primary health care. This research aimed to identify the association between physical disease, mental disease, support network and perceived social support in the research sample. This is a cross-sectional study inserted in a larger research project funded by the Pan American Health Organization and carried out in 2002 in Petrópolis, RJ.