This book gives readers an understanding of the theoretical foundations of social support communication along with practical tools to ethically and justly connect with and support others in daily life. Incorporating research, real-world examples, and autoethnographic methods, this book examines how social hierarchies, personal power dynamics, and relational and social histories can be better understood to create stronger social support messages across all our relationships, including family, friend, workplace, and health provider-patient relationships. The book translates theories of social support communication into practical application, examining how support messaging goes wrong and how to do it right. Intended as a supplementary text in interpersonal communication, psychology, and social work undergraduate courses, the book is also ideal for professionals who engage in caretaking and support tasks and wish to enhance their knowledge of social support theory.

This book gives readers an understanding of the theoretical foundations of social support communication along with practical tools to ethically and justly connect with and support others in daily life. Incorporating research, real-world examples, and autoethnographic methods, this book examines how social hierarchies, personal power dynamics, and relational and social histories can be better understood to create stronger social support messages across all our relationships, including family, friend, workplace, and health provider-patient relationships. The book translates theories of social support communication into practical application, examining how support messaging goes wrong and how to do it right. Intended as a supplementary text in interpersonal communication, psychology, and social work undergraduate courses, the book is also ideal for professionals who engage in caretaking and support tasks and wish to enhance their knowledge of social support theory.

Grief and loss are fundamental aspects of the human experience. This book explores the desire to make sense out of the nonsensical by exploring specific loss and grief experiences. The autoethnographic essays reflect on the unique and individual experiences of each contributor’s story. Simultaneously, these experiences reveal that although their grief experience is unique, it is also cultural and collective, evoking broader cultural themes related to loss and grief. The chapters in this book represent a wide range of loss experiences ranging from the loss of a parent, child, or partner, loss within larger family systems, ambiguous and anticipatory loss to broader cultural aspects of grief. Scholars of communication, sociology, and family studies will find this book of particular interest.