Relationship between Social Support and Old age Stress in the Elderly of Gonabad City in 2017

Nowadays due to the growing amount of attention of elderly people in Iran, more than ever, it is important to maintain and improve the health and quality of life of the elderly as a vulnerable population group. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between social support and old age stress in the elderly of Gonabad city.

In this descriptive-correlational study was performed on, 153 elderly people referred to Gonabad health centers in Iran in 2017. Participants were selected by stratified random sampling. Data were collected over 6 months through demographic information questionnaires, Norbeck social support (NSSQ) , and old age stressors scale (OASS). Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 20 and Pearson test.

According to the findings, the mean score of total stress was 76.36± 21.35, which indicates severe stress in the elderly. The result showed that there is significant association and inverse between total old age stress and Emotional (P= 0.041, r= -0.184) and material dimension (P= 0.024, r= -0.186) of social support. But there is not significant association between total old age stress and functional, structural and total lack dimensions of social support (P>0.05).

The results of this study showed that social support has a role to play in old age stress. Therefore, the role of support, training and counseling the elderly and their families becomes more pronounced.