Role of Perceived Social Support on the Association between Physical Disability and Symptoms of Depression in Senior Citizens of Pakistan.

Azam Tariq,Tian Beihai,Sajjad Ali,Muhammad Imran,Wang Yao,Nadeem Abbas

doi:10.3390/ijerph17051485

Abstract

An emerging body of literature has implied that perceived social support is known as an upstream element of cognitive health. Various dimensions of perceived social support may have divergent influence on physical and cognitive health in later life. The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of perceived social support on the relationship between physical disability and symptoms of depression in senior citizens of Pakistan. The data were collected from three metropolitan cities (Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan) in the Punjab province of Pakistan and 100 participants were approached from each city with a total sample size of 300. The results demonstrated that family support, friends’ support, and significant others’ support mediated the association between physical disability and symptoms of depression, with an indirect effect of 0.024, 0.058, and 0.034, respectively. The total direct and indirect effect was 0.493. Physical disability was directly associated with symptoms of depression and greater physical disability predicted a higher level of symptoms of depression. Perceived social support, including family support, friends’ support, and significant others’ support, showed an indirect association with symptoms of depression. Furthermore, family support and friends’ support were more significantly associated with symptoms of depression as compared to significant others’ support. The research discoveries have better implications for health care professionals, hospice care workers, and policy makers. A holistic approach is required to prevent senior citizens from late-life mental disorders.

Highlights

According to the United Nation, the global population over 60 years of age was 962 million in 2017 and is expected to be double to 2.1 billion by the year 2050
Had a family size of ≥eight members; 64.3% were married, 39.3% were household head, 47.3% of the respondents had family as a source of income, 44% participants belong to the family with two earning hands; 41.3% had less than 30,000 PKR (Pakistan Rupees) and the remaining respondents had more than 30,000 PKR monthly income; 27.6% of the respondents were living at a distance less than 3 Km from hospital, the majority of the respondents (52.6%) were living at the distance of 4–7 km from the hospital; 14.6% of the respondents were not suffering from any chronic disease, whereas 64.2% had at least one or two chronic diseases, including asthma, diabetes, and hypertension
Our findings suggest that in the absence of any of the three dimensions of perceived social support, senior citizens with physical disability have a greater risk of suffering from symptoms of depression in later years of life, and emphasize the significance of the perceived support from family, friends, and significant others to prevent physical and cognitive health obstacles in late life

Summary

Introduction

According to the United Nation, the global population over 60 years of age was 962 million in 2017 and is expected to be double to 2.1 billion by the year 2050. Two-thirds of the total older population live in developing countries. The rapid projections show that by the year 2050, almost 8 of 10 elderly people will be residents of developing regions [1]. Pakistan is a developing country and the population. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 1485; doi:10.3390/ijerph17051485 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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