Assessment Tools for the Elderly - Assessment Summary Sheet
Test: Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ)
Assessment Tool Category: Social Support
Variations/Translations: A six-item version of the SSQ
was described by Sarason et al. (1987). This version has shown a
very high correlation with other social support measures and is
appropriate when a time constraint restricts the completion of the
Method of Delivery: Self administered
Description: The Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ) is
used to quantify the availability and satisfaction with social
support that an individual has. It is a 27 item self-administered
scale. Each item involves two parts: respondents are asked to list
the individuals that are available to them for help in specific
situational circumstances, and how satisfied they are with the
support available. Each situational circumstance allows a
participant to list up to nine individuals (who are indentified
through their initials and relationships with the respondent).
Scoring/Interpretation: Satisfaction rating for each
situational circumstance is the same regardless of the situation
given. A six point rating scale (from “very satisfied”
to “very dissatisfied”) is used to rate the
individual’s satisfaction with his or her support available.
A support score for each item is calculated by the number of
individuals the participant listed (number score). The overall
support score (SSQN) is calculated by the mean of this scores
across the items. The overall satisfaction score is calculated by
the means of the 27 satisfaction scores (McDowell & Newell,
Time to Administer: 5 minutes (Sarason et al., 1983)
Availability: Found in Sarason et al. (1983).
Validity (Quantitative): Criterion validity tests show a
significant negative correlation between the SSQ and a depression
scale (ranging from -0.22 to -0.43), and correlations of 0.57 and
0.34 were obtained between an optimism scale and the satisfaction
score and the number score, respectively (Sarason et al., 1983).
Reliability (Quantitative): ): The number scores yielded
an inter-item correlation ranging from 0.35 to 0.71 (m=0.54). The
Cronbach’s alpha for internal reliability was 0.97. The
inter-item correlations for the satisfaction scores ranged from
0.21 to 0.74, and the coefficient alpha was 0.94. Test-retest
correlations of 0.90 for overall number scores and satisfaction
scores of 0.83 were obtained (Sarason et al., 1983).
McDowell, I. & Newell, C. (1996). Measuring Health: A
Guide to Rating Scales and Questionnaires. (2nd ed.). New
York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 130-134.
Sarason, I.G., et al. (1983). Assessing social support: the
Social Support Questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social
Sarason, I.G., et al. (1987). A brief measure of social
support: practical and theoretical implications. Journal of
Social and Personal Relationships,