ABSTRACT
Background: Social support is a key nursing variable. No review has yet systematically assessed the effectiveness of the personal resource questionnaire (PRQ) as a measure of perceived social support.
Purpose: This article reviewed nine previous studies that used the PRQ (Brandt & Weinert, 1981).
Methods: Completed studies were identified through searches of indexes that included PubMed, the Cumulative Index for Nursing and EBSCO host, and Ovid. Studies that reported PRQ scores, sample descriptions, and sample sizes and that tested the relationship between the PRQ and study variables were included in the present review. Three other studies were included that did not report on PRQ correlations with other health variables. The included studies addressed a variety of health problems and different population in different settings.
Results: Cronbach's alphas for the included studies ranged from .87 to .93, supporting the internal consistency of the PRQ. Hypothesized relationships between the PRQ and study variables including health promotion behavior, self-care behavior, self-efficacy, self-esteem, stress, depression, loneliness, pain, and disability were supported, providing positive evidence for PRQ construct validity. Included studies used the PRQ to address disparate populations in terms of age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and educational background.
Conclusion: This review found the PRQ to be a reliable and valid tool for measuring perceived social support across a wide range of populations. Further studies are necessary to examine the relationship between social support and selected demographics among populations with different cultural backgrounds.