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Care and Social Support Networks: An Exploration of Theoretical and Methodological Approaches

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Networks in the Global World VI (NetGloW 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 663))

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Abstract

Care and social support networks have been crucial to understanding the connections among people in a society at any period. This research aims to explore those two concepts’ theoretical and methodological notions, revising how they had been understood through different studies. Care and support networks are not consistently differentiated. They provide resources, information, help, and even tension between people in their daily lives. I propose a social interdependence approach toward care and social support networks. Specifically, I propose that care networks are the available and perceived ones, while support networks are the actual networks measured in an event or over a specific period.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the ANID Millennium Science Initiative Program (ICS2019_024). The research is titled ‘Vivir cuidando: Usando métodos mixtos para comprender las redes de cuidados y soporte de personas mayores’ [‘Living taking care: using mixed methods to understand care and support networks of older people’]. Without the support from the participants, this research would have not been possible. In addition, I would like to acknowledge the work done by assistant researchers who helped with the data collection: Trinidad Cereceda, Natacha Leroy, Ignacia Luco and Natalia Zipper. Finally, I would like to thank the reviewers and editors for their helpful comments and suggestions, which improved this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Millennium Institute for Care Research (MICARE), Santiago, Chile

    Francisca Ortiz Ruiz

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  1. Francisca Ortiz Ruiz
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Correspondence to Francisca Ortiz Ruiz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for German and European Studies, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Artem Antonyuk

  2. Department of Social Statistics, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Nikita Basov

Appendix

Appendix

Table A.1. Questions to measure care and social support networks. Note: All the questions here are phrased to ask for care/support links from alters to ego, although in the survey all of them were also phrased in the other way around.
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Ortiz Ruiz, F. (2023). Care and Social Support Networks: An Exploration of Theoretical and Methodological Approaches. In: Antonyuk, A., Basov, N. (eds) Networks in the Global World VI. NetGloW 2022. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 663. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29408-2_13

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