Social
Network Instrument
Six items
focused on relationship, resources, and access which are scored on five point
scales. The lower the score, the stronger the relationship. Currently, item 2 must
be reversed scored. Each resident answers these questions about every other
member of the house.
1.
How friendly are you
with this person?
2.
If this person asked
to borrow money from you, how much would you be willing to lend them?
3.
If this person needed
help for a day, how likely would you be to help?
4.
How often do you have
a personal conversation with this person?
5.
How often do you go to
this person for advice on your recovery and other important life issues?
6.
Overall, how strong
would you rate your relationship with this person?
The Social Network
Instrument measures residents’ theoretically significant relationships
within the house, comprising the house social structure. We focused on types of
relationships, mentoring, and trust. Each is rated on a 5-point (0-4)
scale. Several of our studies have used the following three indices.
Types of Relationships, which taps non-judgmental social support, was
determined by asking, “How friendly are you with this person?” (a friend was counted if a person selected close friend or a
friend, and was not selected if the person selected acquaintance, stranger, and
adversary). To assess Trust, residents were asked, “If this person asked to
borrow money from you, how much would you be willing to lend them?” (If a
person indicated $100 or $500 they were counted as being trusted, but not if
they said $0, $10, or $50). Mentoring, which involves being a confidant, was
assessed by the question, “How often do you go to this person for advice on
your recovery and other important life issues?” (If residents mentioned very
often or quite often, they were counted as being a confidant, but were not
counted for the following responses: regularly, rarely or never).
In our work with this
instrument, the Cronbach's alpha was .85 and all items contributed positively.
We also performed multi-level CFA on the social network instrument and found
excellent fit and per-item loading contribution. This social network instrument
was sensitive to length of stay in a recovery home and quality of life, and
neither age nor sex were significantly corrected with this instrument (Jason
& Stevens, 2017).
Jason, L.A., &
Stevens, E. (2017). The reliability and reciprocity of a social network
measure. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 35, 317–327. doi: 10.1080/07347324.2017.1355220
If you are using this
as a whole network, then each person in the house or setting would fill out the
questions below:
Member 1
Member First &
Last Initial
1. How friendly are you with this person?
Close
Friend
Friend Acquaintance
Stranger Adversary
2. If this person
asked to borrow money from you, how much would you be willing to lend them?
$0
$10 $50
$100 $500
3. If this person
needed help for a day, how likely would you be to help?
Very Likely
Likely
Maybe Probably
Not Wouldn't
4. How often do you
have a personal conversation with this person?
Daily
Almost Daily Every Few
Days
Weekly Almost Never
5. How often do you go
to this person for advice on your recovery and other important life issues?
Very
Often Quite
Often
Regularly
Rarely Never
6. Overall, how strong
would you relate your relationship with this person?
Very
Strong
Strong
Weak None Negative
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Psychological Sense of Community Scale
Jason, L.A., Stevens, E., & Ram, D. (2015). Development
of a three-factor psychological sense of community scale. Journal
of Community Psychology, 43, 973-985.
Using
this measure, first
replace the letter “E” with the Entity and the letter “M”
with the Membership that the sample will
refer to. Respondents answer whether
they Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Slightly Disagree, Slightly Agree, Agree, or Strongly Agree
with the questions below.
1 I think this E was a good E
22 I did not leave this E
because I wanted to
23 For me,
this E was a good fit
10 M could
depend on each other in this E
12 M could get help from other M
if they needed it
13 M were secure in sharing
opinions or asking for advice
18 This E was
important to me
20 I made friends in this E
21 I felt good helping the E and
the M
The
questions above are in the past tense, so if an investigator decides to use
this scale for a person’s current sense of community, we suggest using the
slight variation of wording below that puts things in the present tense.
1 I think this E is a good E
22 I am not planning on leaving
this E
23 For me,
this E is a good fit
10 M can depend on each other in this E
12 M can get help from other M
if they need it
13 M are secure in sharing opinions
or asking for advice
18 This E is
important to me
20 I have friends in this E
21 I feel good helping the E and
the M