Impact of Nutritional Risk on Self-Care Capacity: Social Support as a Source of Protection for Community-Dwelling Older Adults Living in a Rural Area.

Abstract

Loss of independence is a major concern for rural older adults. Older adults living in rural areas are at an increased nutritional risk, which can lead to functional impairments in self-care capacity. Identifying factors, which have a role in sustaining rural older adults' self-care capacity, could help with maintaining independence as long as possible. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of social support as a moderator between nutritional risk and self-care capacity. Cross sectional design using convenient sampling. Rural Oklahoma counties designated as "non-metro" and having populations under 5,000. Participants included 171 community-dwelling older adults, 65 years of age and older. Data were collected using self-report surveys on self-care capacity (using the Duke Older Americans Resources and Services Procedures), social support (using the Social Provisions Scale), and nutritional risk (using the Mini-Nutritional Assessment short form). Using hierarchical linear regression techniques, data were analyzed to explore the moderating influence of social support in the association between nutritional risk and self-care capacity. A significant interaction emerged between nutritional risk, social support, and self-care capacity (β = 0.20 p < 0.05). Thus, the deleterious impact of nutritional risk on self-care capacity was reduced by social support. Results provide further support of the "buffering-hypothesis" and have implications relative to the importance of accessible social provisions to enhance self-care capacity and quality of life among older adults residing in rural settings.