Description:
This course features critical exploration of the theory and research regarding personal and community experiences of social support, its influences on interpersonal relationships and health, and its social functions.
Learning Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Construct a nuanced definition of social support, including consideration for its various types and how scholarly understanding of social support has evolved over time and across disciplines.
- Identify and explain how social support influences our interpersonal relationships as well as individual outcomes (including health and well-being).
- Compare advanced perspectives on key movements, themes, and thinkers in the study of social support and its relationship with various outcomes.
- Analyze "big ideas" (abstract theoretical concepts) and how such conceptualizations have been extended and applied in contemporary research on supportive communication.