ABSTRACT
This chapter is a comprehensive reference manual providing information on the Social Support Survey (SSS), which is self-rating scale, designed to measure the perceived availability of functional social supports. It was initially developed for use in a longitudinal research study of patients with “chronic conditions”, and has also been used with people with stroke. A brief history of the instrument's development is provided, along with a description of item content and administration/scoring procedures. Psychometric properties are reviewed and a critical commentary is provided. Key references are cited and in most cases the actual scale is included, giving the reader easy access to the instrument.
