The Relationship between Social Support and Morale of Elderly People in Mashhad in 2012

Background and Objective: The number and proportion of elderly people are increasing in the world. The present century is not concerned with survival, but the increase in the quality of life and psychological well-being of people. The most important indicator of psychological well-being in the old age is the morale. One of the parameters affecting compatibility with the aging process and problems resulting from aging and its stresses and the predictor of morale rate is social support. Social support is related with improvement and development of psychological adjustment and compliance mechanisms. Considering the types of social support and strengthening them as social capital can improve the quality of life and morale of elderly. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between social supports with morale of elderly people of Mashhad. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 elderly people in 2012. Research tools included of personal information, Duke social support scale and Philadelphia elderly center morale scale. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation coefficient. Results: The results showed that 247 (70.61%) of the elderly were male and the rest were female. The average of their age was 66.42±5.61 years. Average of morale score was 10.19±4.58. The results also showed that the mean score of family support  47.34±21.73) was higher than non-family support (38.58±26.74). A significant correlation was found between the scores of family social support (rs= 0.39) and non-family social support (rs= 0.22) with morale scores (p less-than 0.001). Conclusion: Social support is an important factor in improving elderly morale and has a prediction role in morale rate. Key words: Elderly, Morale, Social Support Funding: This research was funded by Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Conflict of interest: None declared. Ethical approval: The Ethics Committee of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences approved the study. How to cite this article: Zarifnejad G, Saberi Noghabi E, Delshad Noghabi A, Koshyar H. The Relationship between Social Support and Morale of Elderly People in Mashhad in 2012. J Rafsanjan Univ Med Sci 2014 13(1): 3-12. [Farsi]