From this perspective, the term social support is used to refer to the real or perceived availability of social resources [6]. (journals.plos.org)
The fourth domain of assessment is the couples perceived availability and use of social support networks. (margaretthompsonlcsw.com)
We hypothesized that social support would act as a buffer to stress because (1) we measured perceived availability of social support that has supported buffering effects and (2) the buffering hypothesis may be particularly relevant to chronically ill persons since a chronic disease could be viewed as an accumulation of stressors (Schreurs & de Ridder, 1997). (academic.oup.com)