Social support and the self-rated health of older people

Abstract

The lack of social support in elderly populations incurs real societal costs and can lead to their poor health. The aim of this study is to investigate the self-rated health (SRH) and social support among older people as well as its associated factors.We conducted a cross-sectional study among 312 urban community-dwelling elderly aged 65 to 90 years in Tainan Taiwan and Fuzhou Fujian Province from March 2012 to October 2012. A Spearson correlation test, independent t test, a Pearson χ2 test, a linear regression analysis, and a multiple-level model were performed to analyze the results.The participants identified children as the most important source of objective and subjective support, followed by spouse and relatives. Tainan's elderly received more daily life assistance and emotional support, showed stronger awareness of the need to seek help, and maintained a higher frequency of social interactions compared with the elderly in Fuzhou. The mean objective support, subjective support, and support utilization scores as well as the overall social support among Tainan's elderly were significantly high compared with the scores among Fuzhou's elderly. Further, Tainan's elderly rated better SRH than Fuzhou's elderly. Correlation analysis showed that social support was significantly correlated with city, age, living conditions, marital status, and SRH. Multiple linear regression analysis, with social support as a dependent variable, retained the following independent predictors in the final regression model: city (4.792, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.068–6.516, P = 0.000), age (−0.805, 95% CI: −1.394 to −0.135, P = 0.013), marital status (−1.260, 95% CI: −1.891 to −0.629, P = 0.000), living conditions (4.069, 95% CI: 3.022–5.116, P = 0.000), and SRH −1.941, 95% CI: −3.194 to −0.688, P = 0.003). The multiple-level model showed that city would impact older people's social support (χ2 = 5.103, P < 0.001). Marital status (−2.133, 95% CI: −2.768 to −1.499, P = 0.000), education (1.697, 95% CI: 0.589–2.805 P = 0.003), living conditions (4.20, 95% CI: 1.762–6.638, P = 0.000), and SRH (−3.144, 95% CI: −4.502 to −1.727, P = 0.000) were the associated factors. Thus, city, age, marital status, education, living conditions, and SRH might be the associated factors for social support among older people.This study presents some feasible implications for social support improvement in China and in other nations worldwide.

Social support received by the family of older patients in emergency department: A cross-sectional study

“…This finding is supported by Dai et al, [6] who identified that few demographic characteristics as age, marital status, and education were generally related to the received social support. In addition, living together with older patient who visited ED was associated with another subarea of social support.…”

“…[14] This may lead to an increase in health care utilization and related costs. Frequent use of health care services is one reason older patients apply for social support, [4][5][6] and should be considered when providing ED care for this population.…”

“…[11] According to urban Taiwanese older patients found that age, marital status, and education were generally related to the received social support. [6] In a study conducted across seven European countries it was revealed that low levels of social support were associated with older patients' age and their psychological abuse. [4] One cross-sectional study examined older patients and social support in relation to quality of life and found that older patients received social support mostly from family, friends, and other people close to them.…”

“…[3] Poor health, the presence of chronic disease, and frequent use of health care services often prompt older patients to apply for social support. [4][5][6] For these patients, social support networks often consist of health care professionals, family members, and partners. [7] Higher scores in perceived social support, higher levels of cognitive functioning, and increased daily living activities by older patients predict depression.…”

The cross-interaction between global and age-comparative self-rated health on depressive symptoms–considering both the individual and combined effects

“…Review of previous papers regarding depressive symptoms was difficult using SRH-age and not SRH-global [26, 27]. As we performed the same methods as those used in the previous studies using SRH-global and SRH-age alone, the results from both health status variables showed similar trends to the CESD.…”