The social support questionnaire was originally in english by toljamo and hentinen (2001). in this study , it was approached by back translation in order to enhance equivalence. The instrument was first translated using bilingual speakers and then back - translated for accuracy and clarity . It also was pilot-tested with a convenlence sample of ten hemodialysis patients. Reliability of this instrument was determined by cronbach's alpha . The cronbach's alpha coefficient of the social support questionnaire was 0.87