title: New perspectives on social support.
abstract: Many health sciences, including nursing, have contributed to research and theory development in the area of social support. Because of this, social support is shared knowledge rather than borrowed knowledge. This article reviews the evidence that social support is a major determinant of health and illness. It is likely that, in the future, nurse practitioners will increase their use of social support theory in planning patient care.
mesh_terms: D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D009742:Nursing Theory; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support