Social Support and Response to AIDS and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

Abstract

Negative public reactions to emerging infectious diseases can adversely affect population health. We assessed whether social support was associated with knowledge of, worry about, and attitudes towards AIDS and severe acute respiratory syndrome. Our findings suggest that social support may be central to our understanding of public responses to emerging infectious diseases.

Keywords

• Infectious disease
• communicable disease
• AIDS
• SARS
• social support
• social networks