Table 1.

Types of Social Support

Support type	Examples
Informational	Suggestions/advice: to suggest actions and provide guidance
	Referral: referring to another source of information
	Teaching: to explain facts or teach skills needed
Emotional	Empathy: to feel sorrow or empathy
	Understanding: to understand the situation of the participants
Esteem	Validation: to express agreement with participants perspective on the situation
	Compliment: positive comments about participants
Network	Access: to provide access to peers
	Friendship: request to make connections or offer to talk
	Peer: to be reminded of the availability of existing peers
Tangible	Gift: to give participants something
	Direct tasks: to perform a task directly for participants