Support Seeking and Provision

Abstract

This entry introduces the concepts of support seeking and provision in health communication research and practice. Supportive communication is of critical importance in illness contexts. Individuals engage in verbal and nonverbal communication behaviors to elicit supportive actions from and offer aid to others. Support‐seeking and provision processes are by nature interactive and dyadic. Factors such as specific illness conditions, cultural differences, family communication patterns, and individual personality and gender can influence strategies used to seek or provide support. Supportive communication that takes place online represents unique characteristics and processes compared to those in face‐to‐face supportive interactions. Importantly, the outcomes of support seeking and provision can be either helpful or harmful. Future health communication research should continue to investigate and theorize the mechanisms of support‐seeking and provision processes, understand predictors and outcomes of supportive messages and interactions, and explore how these may differ depending on the unique health contexts under examination.