Research Question #5
How did survivors rate providers of emotional support? To gauge the degrees of emotional support survivors perceive they have received from various entities, participants were asked to rate potential providers on a scale of no support, some support, much support, all support needed, and no answer/not applicable. The highest ratings combining all support needed and much support were received by God (100% of believers; 60% of total sample), family (72%), therapists (68%), spouse (64%), nurses (63%), support groups (63%), and church (63%).
Fifty-five percent of the participants rated family as providing all the support needed. Other entities at the top end of the scale were support group (47%), spouse (43%), and teachers (35%). Seventy-eight percent of believers found God completely supportive, whereas only 38% gave the church or clergy the highest rating.
At the low end of the scale, 64% rated their boss as giving no support or only some support. Sixty-four percent gave low ratings to work associates. Sixty percent rated books or magazines and teachers as not supportive or only minimally supportive. The medical community ratings were fairly even with 50% assigning low ratings and 50% high ratings. The highest no support ratings went to books and magazines (30%), the medical community (23%), boss (27%), and school (22%). Although 78% rated doctors in the some or much support categories, only 15% rated doctors in the all support needed category. The only other category receiving such a low all support needed rating was books or magazines. See Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6.
