The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #64234

Lynn A. Agre, MPH, School of Social Work, Rutgers University, 640 Bartholomew Road - RUTCOR Modular Building, Piscataway, NJ 08854, 732-445-3079, agre@rci.rutgers.edu

The beneficial effects of social support on both mental and physical health outcomes have been explored in the last four decades. Particularly in the last twenty years, researchers have been able to link these dimensions of integratedness and connectedness to physiological responses, demonstrating their effect on the retarding of disease progression, reduced mortality, and improved life satisfaction. The social support mechanism can offset the effects of stress, ameliorate functional status and extend quality of life years. What has not been explored is the relationship of social integration to job attendance. The role of social networks in influencing work behavior has only been investigated in relation to physical supports in the work domain, without consideration of the effect of social relationships outside of work and their purpose in bolstering consistent employment patterns, particularly among persons with depressive illness. Supports at work have included allowing for flexible hours, responding to chronic episodes with preservation of job positions, and liberal employment suspension policies. This paper addresses a philosophical discussion about treatment for persons with depression and other comorbid mental health diagnoses: is resiliency maximized through isolation from the stressful environment? Or is adaptability enhanced by creating social contacts within the stressful environment, which can provide external perspectives to alleviate internal pressures? The degree of participation in networks outside the work place may represent another level of not only community but a support resource, which can reinforce one’s engaging in the key element of human existence and the economy, work and all its benefits.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will explore the relationship between self-assessed physical health and self-appraised psychosocial well-being.
• Clinicians and researchers will learn the relationship between sociodemographic controls, including educational attainment and income and mental health and disease trajectories.
• The role of social support in attenuating social stressors will be evaluated in the context of a statistical model.

Keywords: Depression, Treatment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.