ISB: Inventarisatielijst Sociale Betrokkenheid/ ISR: Inventory for Social Reliance

In concurrence with the theory of social support of Cohen & Willis (1995) the ISB/ISR assesses quantitative and qualitative aspects of social support. The inventory can be completed without professional assistance and takes about 7 minutes to complete. The quantitative aspect is measured through two items, namely the number of friends and the number of neighbors one associates with. The qualitative aspect is measured through 11 items which are rated according to a 4-point Likert scale (almost never, sometimes, often, almost always) reflecting three relatively independent subscales referring to perceived emotional support (5 items; e.g. When I am tense or under pressure, there is someone to help me), actual emotional support (3 items; e.g.. I speak confidentially with others), mutual visiting (2 items; e.g. friends and relatives visit me) and a rest item.
It was revealed that this structure is invariant in three samples of respectively healthy, and physically and psychologically unhealthy persons. Psychometric analysis revealed the following characteristics: high internal consistency in normal subjects, satisfactory convergent and divergent validity, and relatively low correlations with demographic variables. The ISB/ISR scales were found to be predictive of the health status of patients with chronic physical or psychiatric diseases and normal subjects in various longitudinal studies.
Scoring instructions and reference groups are published in the Dutch IRGL manual [article in .pdf format] and Dam-Baggen & Kraaimaat, 1992 [article]. The use of the ISB/ISR is free for health professionals and researchers and the inventory is available in a Dutch [ISB; article in .pdf format] and an English [ISR; article in .pdf format] version.

Publications

Huiskes, C.J.A.E., Kraaimaat, F.W. & Bijlsma, J.W.J. (1990). Development of a self-report questionnaire to assess the impact of rheumatic diseases on health and lifestyle. Journal of rehabilitation sciences, 3, 3, 65-74. [article in .pdf format]

Dam-Baggen, R. & Kraaimaat, F. (1992). De Inventarisatielijst Sociale Betrokkenheid (ISB): een zelfbeoordelingslijst om sociale steun te meten (Inventory for social reliance (ISR): a self-report inventory for the measurement of social support). Gedragstherapie, 25, 27-46. [article in .pdf format]

Evers, A.W.M., Taal, B.G., Kraaimaat, F.W., Jacobs, J.W.J., & Bijlsma, J.W.J. (1998). A comparison of two recently developed health status instruments for patients with arthritis : Dutch-AIMS2 and IRGL. British Journal of Rheumatology, 37, 157-164.

Huiskes, C.J.A.E., Kraaimaat, F.W. & Bijlsma, J.W.J. (1990). Handleiding bij de zelfbeoordelingslijst Invloed van reuma op gezondheid en leefwijze :de IRGL (Manual of the self-report questionnaire Impact of Rheumatic diseases on General Health and Lifestyle: the IRGL. Lisse : Swets & Zeiltlinger BV. [article in .pdf format]

Publications with the ISR as a measurement of social support

Dam-Baggen, R. & Kraaimaat, F. (1994). Sociaal functioneren en sociaalvaardigheidstherapie bij psychiatrische patiënten. (Social functioning and social skills training in psychi¬atric patients). Gedragstherapie, 27, 19-32.

Evers, A.W.M., Kraaimaat, F.W., Geenen, R. & Bijlsma J.W.J. (1997). Determinants of psychological distress and its course in the first year after diagnosis in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 20 (5), 489-504.

Evers, A.W.M., Kraaimaat, F.W., Geenen, R., & Bijlsma, J.W.J. (1998). Psychosocial predictors of functional change in recently diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis patients. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 179-193.

Evers, A.W.M., Kraaimaat, F.W., van Lankveld, W., Jongen, P.H.J. , Jacobs, W.W.G. & Bijlsma, J.W.J. (2001). Beyond unfavorable thinking: the Illness Cognition Questionnaire for chronic diseases. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69, 6, 1026-1036.

Evers A.W.M., Kraaimaat F.W., Geenen, R., Jacobs, J.W.G. & Bijlsma, J.W.J. (2002). Long-term Predictors of Anxiety and Depressed Mood in Early Reumatoid Arthritis: A 3 and 5 Year Follow-up. The Journal of Rheumatology 29, 2327-2336.

Evers, A.W.M., Kraaimaat, F.W., Reenen, R., Jacobs, J.W.G. & Bijlsma, J.W.J. (2003). Stress-vulnerability factors as long-term predictors of disease activity in early rheumatoid arthritis. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 55, 293-302.

Evers, A.W.M., Kraaimaat, .FW., Geenen, R., Jacobs, J.W.G. & Bijlsma, J.W.J. (2003). Pain coping and social support as predictors of long-term functional disability and pain in early rheumatoid arthritis. Behaviour and Research Therapy, 41, 1295-1310.

Larsen, J.K., Geenen, R. Van Ramshorst, B., Brand, N., De Wit, P., Stroebe, W. & Van Doornen, L.J.P. (2003). Psychosocial functioning before and after Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding for morbid obesity: a cross-sectional study. Obesity Surgery, 13, 629-636.

Wijngaarden, B. van, Schene, A.H. & Koeter, M.W.J. (2004). Family caregiving in depression: Impact on caregivers'daily life, distress, and help seeking. Journal of Affective Disorders, 81, 211-222.

Verhaak, C. M., Smeenk, J.M.J., Evers, A.W.M., Minnen van, A., Kremer, A.J.M. & Kraaimaat, F.W. (2005). Predicting emotional response to unsuccessful fertility treatment: A prospective study. Journal of Behavioral Medicine 28, 181-90.

Verhaak, C. M., Smeenk, J.M.J., van Minnen, A., Kremer, A.J.M. & Kraaimaat, F.W. (2005). A longitudinal prospective study on emotional adjustments before, during and after consecutive fertility treatment cycles. Human Reproduction, 20, 8, 2253-2260.

Koulil, S. van, Lankveld, W. van, Kraaimaat, F.W., Riel, P.L.C.M. van & Evers, A.W.M. (2010). Risk factors for longer-term psychological distress in well-functioning fibromyalgia patients: A prospective study into prognostic factors. Patient Education and Counseling, 80, 126-129.

Theunissen, J.R., Duurkoop, P., Kikkert, M., Peen, J. & Dekker, J. (2013). Na de extramuralisering. II Een crossectionele studie naar psychisch en sociaal functioneren en kwaliteit van leven van een steekproef van chronisch psychiatrische patiënten in de Amsterdamse ggz. Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie, 55, 153-162. [article in pdf format]

Holla, J.F.M., Beers-Tas, M.H. van, Stadt, L. A. van de, Landewé, R., Twisk, J.W.R. & Dekker, J. (2018). Depressive mood and low social support are not associated with arthritis development in patients with seropositive arthralgia, although they predict increased musculoskeletal symptoms. Rhematic & Musculoskeletal Diseases. Doi:10.1136/rmdopen-2018-000653