Instrument
Provision of social was measured by means of the Social Support Behavior Code (SSBC; Cutrona&Suhr, 1992, 1994; Suhr, 1990), borrowed form research on family relationships. Transcripts of group sessions were analyzed by independent raters to obtain a record of received and given support for each group member and for the therapist. The SSBC assesses the frequency of occurrence of 32 individual behaviors. Eight subscale scores are computed (seven support scores and Negative Behavior), plus an overall Positive Total Support Score. Each score reflects the total number of behaviors observed within that category.