Acceso usuarios
The present study describes the maim characteristics of the social networks of 31 families, identified as multiproblematic, corresponding to users of the city council social department of Miranda do Corvo (Portugal).
The instruments applied to collect information were the “Family Characterization Questionnaire” (Correia, 2009) that evaluates demographic, socio-economic and professional variables of the nuclear family elements and the IARSP-RS (Guadalupe & Alarcão, 2007) that identifies the network structural characteristics, the attributes of the links and the kind of support provided by the elements of the social personal network. Data was quantitatively analysed through Statistical Software SPSS (version 13.0).
In what concerns structural characteristics results indicate that, networks are small (5-10 elements in 49,9% of the sample), have medium density (fragmented networks) and are localized (the family and community quadrants –social and health systems - are more filled and the labor and study relations are almost inexistent). About the functional characteristics of the network, (emotional, informational, material and instrumental support) the results indicate that support is positively recognized.
Families and professionals identify the main problems of the family in several areas, and the professionals point out more problems in comparison with those pointed out by families.
