The Study of the Relationship Between Physiology , Mental Health , Self Esteem and Social Support Among the Elderly in Qom City

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between mental health, self-esteem and social support for elderly men and women living in the charity of the disabled and the elderly of the rest. Material& Methods: This study is a correlation one. The participants of the study were 40 people who were divided into 4 groups of 10 male and female residents living in a charity and resident hospital. They were randomly selected through cluster sampling, with general health tests (GHQ) and Cooper Smith's self-esteem and social support Phillips were evaluated. The present study was a causal-comparative study and T-test was used to analyze the data. Findings: After comparing the scores by SPSS software, the results showed that there was not a significant relationship between the social support score and the mental health of the elderly living in the sanatorium (P = 0.33). But there is a correlation between the social support score and the mental health of the elderly living in the home (P = 0.048). In the case of another variable, there is a relationship between the social support and anxiety score of the elderly living in the sanatorium (P = 0.046). But there is no relation between the social support score and the anxiety of the elderly living in the home (P = 0.63). Based on the data, it can be said that there is no significant relationship between social support score and depression in the elderly living in a sanatorium and home (P = 0.63 and 0.3). Based on the data, it can be concluded that there is not a significant relationship between the social support score and the social function of the elderly living in the nursing home (P <0.05). Meanwhile, according to the data, it can be concluded that there is no significant relationship between social support score and physical symptoms in the nursing home and home (65.0 and 32.0, respectively). Discussion& Conclusion: The results showed that there was no significant relationship between social support scores, anxiety and mental health of the elderly living in a nursing home. But there is a relationship between the score of social support, mental health and anxiety in the elderly living in homes.