Psychometric Properties of the Provided Social Support Scale

Abstract

Not only received and perceived but also provided social support (SS) is currently ack- nowledged to have effects on caregiver burden and other psychosocial outcomes of caregiving process. However, there are no tools in Turkey which measure SS provided by caregivers. This study attempts to introduce the psychometric qualities of "The Provided Social Support Sca- le" (PSSS) which is adapted for caregivers based on Social Support Providing Behaviors Inventory (Erol, 2008), tested on a sample of 200 caregivers. Factor analysis revealed a three factor structure; "provided" material, informational and emotional support with Cronbach's alpha values of .80-.91. Although its factors' correlations with perceived SS and burn-out are as expected only for Provided Emotional Support, intra-scale correlations, its factor structure and reliability values can be accepted as a suf cient evidence for PSSS' psychometric properties. In conclusion, PSSS can ll a basic need in testing multidimensional effects of SS in caregiving/taking process.