Social Support of Older Persons in Bangladesh

Abstract

Social support is an important factor in older persons’ lives. During old age, physical strength often decreases, income can reduce, and vulnerability may increase due to disease and dependence. Many older persons, therefore, require various types of assistance from family members and friends in support of their health and well-being. The dual purposes of this study, which was conducted in two southern districts of Bangladesh, were to evaluate older persons’ social support and to investigate the relationship between social support and socio-demographic characteristics. Data were collected from 280 older people via the Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire (DUFSS). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographic and social support data. One way classification of analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare different groups of older persons with different socio-demographic characteristics. Participants reported a medium level of social support. Being male, married, literate, and employed were found to be significant factors positively associated with older persons’ social support. The identification of further factors that affect older persons’ social support is recommended.