Structural Model of Social Support and Distress Tolerance by Mental Health Mediation in Elderlies With Cardiovascular Disease

Distress tolerance is one of the factors that can have a great impact on the mental health of the elderly. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of subjective well-being in the relationship between social support and distress tolerance in elderly with cardiovascular disease.

The research design was correlational through structural equation modeling. The sample consisted of 100 elderly people with cardiovascular diseases who were taken care of in Bojnourd Welfare Center. They were selected by census sampling method. The participants completed the measures of distress tolerance, social support, and subjective well-being. Reliability and validity of all scales were confirmed. The proposed model was evaluated using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based on AMOS-23 and SPSS-23 software. Bootstrap method was used to test the effects of the proposed model.

The results showed that the proposed model has good fit. Social support has a direct effect on mental health and distress tolerance (P<0.0001). Also, the mediating effect of subjective well-being on the relationship between social support and distress tolerance was confirmed (P<0.0001).

The results showed that mental health could mediate the relationship between social support and distress tolerance in elderly people with cardiovascular disease. Elderly and family care centers are therefore recommended to emphasize the role of supportive programs for the elderly.