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Chronic conditions and informal social capital: mediators and moderators in different contexts.

Vis, E. Chronic conditions and informal social capital: mediators and moderators in different contexts. Nijmegen: RUN, 2024. 182 p. Proefschrift van de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
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People with chronic or disabling conditions may experience not only physical health problems, but also mental health issues, reduced quality of life, and an impact on social relationships.For people with chronic or disabling
conditions, there are not only practical barriers, but also social barriers that limit full participation in society. This may also hamper people to participate socially. Social participation is not only a goal in itself, but it is also seen in recent policies in the Netherlands as a way to promote self-reliance, self-management and increase patient
empowerment.

These policies focus on people’s self-reliance and mobilizing their social networks, aiming to reduce the dependency of people with chronic or disabling conditions on formal care or support from the government. It remains an important question however, if, how and when the key assumptions behind these policies are actually met. This implies that we need to look into the relationship between having a chronic or disabling condition and informal social capital. From a scientific perspective, we do this by building on the work of (next to many others) Bourdieu (1986), who defines informal social capital as “the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance or recognition”. From a policy perspective, we will research how informal social capital of people with a chronic or disabling condition is related to different types of healthcare utilization as well.