Early Childhood Professionals As a Source of Social Support: The Role of Parent-Professional Communication (Report‪)‬

Introduction Social support is a complex concept concerned with aspects of a person's social relationships. It can be defined as either the number of relationships enacted (that is, received support) or how these relationships are experienced (that is, perceived support). Perceived support can refer to both emotional support (for example, empathy, acceptance, encouragement) and/or instrumental support (for example, practical information) (Eurelings-Bontecoe, Diekstra & Verschuur, 1995). Because perceived support is a more sensitive measure of wellbeing than measures of received support (Kitamura et al., 2002; Ostberg & Hagekull, 2000), in the current study social support was defined as 'the extent to which an individual believes that his/her needs for support, information and feedback are fulfilled' (Procidano & Heller, 1983, p. 2). The aim was to investigate mothers' perceptions of early childhood professionals (ECPs) as a source of emotional and instrumental support. In particular, the study sought to establish how the nature of communication between mothers and ECPs influences maternal perceptions of support.