One of the major distinctions among

One of the major distinctions among these studies was whether the type of social support assessed was general support, illness- or regimen-specific support, or both. Most of the studies related to asthma, kidney disease, and heart disease assessed various dimensions of general emotional, tangible, or other types of support, although this was unclear in some cases. DiIorio and colleagues’two studies of epilepsy self-management assessed both general support and support specific to epilepsy self-management. Of the studies focusing on diabetes self-management, three assessed general support only, six assessed some aspect of diabetes-specific support, and three assessed both, although one of these combined general and specific support into one variable.