Interpersonal Support Evaluation List-12

What is the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List-12?  

The Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL) is a broadly employed self-reported assessment tool that evaluates an individual's perceived availability of social support (Merz et al., 2014). Rather than measuring actual support received, the ISEL focuses on the level of support someone believes is accessible to them. The ISEL-12 is a shorter version of the original ISEL, consisting of a 12-item measure of three sub-scales, each with a different dimension of perceived social support (Baltes et al., 2024).

The three sub-scales and measures of functional support are as follows (Baltes et al., 2024):

• Appraisal social support: Perceived availability to ask for guidance and or advice.
• Belonging social support: Perceived availability of connectedness, empathy, and concern within social networks.

The Latinos Sociocultural Ancillary Study demonstrated the reliability, structural, and convergent validity of ISEL-12 scores compared to other data, demonstrating ISEL-12 psychometric properties (Merz et al., 2014). In this study,  participants completed measures in either English or Spanish, identifying their ancestry as Dominican, Central American, Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, or South American.

The ISEL-12 demonstrates adequate internal consistency; confirmatory factor analyses revealed that both the one-factor and three-factor models fit the data equally well, demonstrating the flexibility and adequacy of the ISEL-12 model.

Results from multigroup confirmatory factor analyses further supported a similar one-factor structure providing equivalent variances and response patterns across different language groups and ancestry groups (Merz et al., 2014). This means that people from diverse backgrounds responded to the items in a similar way, with equivalent response patterns.

Convergent validity analyses were conducted to assess how well the ISEL-12 related to other psychological and social concepts. The convergent validity analyses suggested that the total social support score was associated with several related measures in ways that matched expectations, supporting internal consistency reliability (Merz et al., 2014). 

For instance, higher social support scores were associated with greater social network integration and higher levels of life engagement. At the same time, these scores were inversely linked to perceived stress and the negative affect, anxiety, and depression, with total scores representing their expected directions (Merz et al., 2014).

How to use our Interpersonal Support Evaluation List-12 template  

Using the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List 12 is a simple process that enables healthcare professionals to assess individuals' perceived availability of social support and effectively implement strategies to support the individual.

Follow these steps to get started:

Step 1: Download the template

Access the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List template by clicking "Use template", allowing you to edit the resource via the Carepatron app. For a PDF copy, choose "Download."

Step 2: Familiarize yourself with the template

The template is designed to guide you through the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List-12. It includes space for essential patient information, such as name and date of birth. The template follows the standard ISEL-12 test, which is composed of 12 items, each relating to one of the three subscales: appraisal, belonging, and tangible perceived availability.

Step 3: Ask the patient to complete

Give the template to the patient to complete. Ensure that they fill out their personal details. Before patient completion, emphasize that there is no right or wrong answer; rather, it is about understanding their authentic answers. Explain that it is crucial to provide honest answers in order to attain an accurate result. Be sure to guide the individual through the template, helping them with questions if necessary whilst ensuring not to suggest any answers.

Step 4: Score their answers

Calculate the individual's score by summing the three subscale scores to reach the total score.

Scoring

Scoring the ISEL-12 template is a straightforward, efficient process that enables health care professionals to gather information on patients efficiently.

The ISEL-12 measures the functional components of social support. It consists of 3 subscales with 4 items in each. Each item is scored on a 1-4 Likert scale ("definitely false" to "definitely true") (Baltes et al., 2024). A high total score indicates greater perceived social support.

The ISEL-12 can be scored by summing the three subscale scores: appraisal, belonging, and tangible, to create an overall social support score (Baltes et al., 2024). Ensure that all questions have been answered best to the individuals' ability to get the most accurate results.

The items representing each subscale is represented below (Cohen et al., 1985):  

• Appraisal subscale: Item numbers 2, 4, 6, 11
• Belonging subscale: item numbers 1‚ 5‚ 7‚ 9
• Tangible subscale: item numbers 3‚ 8‚ 10‚ 12

Please note that items 1, 2, 7, 8, 11, and 12 are reverse coded items.

Next steps after using the list 150-200

There are several steps that can be taken once the total social support score has been calculated.

Review and analyze responses

The patient's total score will be reviewed; this acts as an indicator of total perceived support. However, it is common for the 3 subscales, appraisal, belonging, and tangible social support, to be reviewed to identify a specific type of support that may be most influential for a given outcome if necessary (Carnegie Mellon University, n.d.). Patterns can be revealed in specific areas, and this can assist with where the patient may need additional support (Carnegie Mellon University, n.d.).

Discuss results with patient

In some cases, healthcare professionals may open a sensitive and nonjudgmental conversation to discuss the results from the ISEL-12 template. The professional will try to get a well-rounded understanding of the patient, considering the broader context of the person and the social determinants surrounding them. This can help to guide healthcare professionals in targeted interventions that are specific to the individual and their needs.

References

Baltes, A., Horton, D. M., Malicki, J., Muller, H., Tilhou, A., Brown, R. T., & Nicholas, C. R. (2024). The potential role of social support in reducing risk of opioid misuse following traumatic injury. Addiction Research & Theory, 1-7.

Carnegie Mellon University. (n.d.). Social support - The Common Cold Project - Carnegie Mellon University. https://www.cmu.edu/common-cold-project/measures-by-study/psychological-and-social-constructs/social-relationships-loneliness-measures/social-support.html

Cohen S., Mermelstein R., Kamarck T., & Hoberman, H.M. (1985). Measuring the functional components of social support. In Sarason, I.G. & Sarason, B.R. (Eds), Social support: theory, research, and applications. The Hague, Netherlands: Martinus Niijhoff

Merz, E. L., Roesch, S. C., Malcarne, V. L., Penedo, F. J., Llabre, M. M., Weitzman, O. B., ... & Gallo, L. C. (2014). Validation of interpersonal support evaluation list-12 (ISEL-12) scores among English-and Spanish-speaking Hispanics/Latinos from the HCHS/SOL Sociocultural Ancillary Study. Psychological assessment, 26(2), 384.