Association between social support and health-related quality of life among Chinese seafarers: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundSeafarers have reported impaired health and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Social support might increase HRQOL, but little is known about this association among Chinese seafarers. The aim of this study was to describe social support and explore its association with HRQOL among Chinese seafarers.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted in the ports of Nantong and Rugao, China, from April to December 2013. A total of 917 Chinese seafarers were interviewed on social support, mental distress, perceived occupational stress, and HRQOL using the following self-administered questionnaires: The Social Support Rating Scale, Self-rating Depression Scale, Occupational Stress Questionnaire, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire. Hierarchical linear regression modelling was used to analyze the association between seafarers’ subjective level of social support and their HRQOL.ResultsOf the 917 male Chinese seafarers included in the study, 40.7% perceived high levels of social support, and 39.1% were highly satisfied with their overall quality of life (QOL). Hierarchical regression analysis showed significant associations between level of social support and all health dimensions in the WHOQOL-BREF, even after adjusting for depressive symptoms, occupational stress, occupational activities, sleep duration, and other relevant covariates. Compared with the medium or low level social support group, seafarers with a high level of social support had better QOL scores in the general facet health and QOL (β = 2.43, p<0.05), and the physical health (β = 3.23, p<0.001), psychological health (β = 5.56, p<0.001), social relation (β = 6.07, p<0.001), and environment domains (β = 4.27, p<0.001). In addition, depression, occupational stress, occupational activities, and sleep duration were found to be determinants of seafarers’ HRQOL.ConclusionsChinese seafarers have poorer HRQOL than the general population, but social support has a significant positive effect on their HRQOL. Efforts to improve social support should be undertaken.

Association of Formal and Informal Social Support With Health-Related Quality of Life Among Chinese Rural Elders

“…Not surprisingly, this study indicated that both formal and informal social support could generally improve HRQOL for the elderly, generally confirming the findings of previous studies [6][7][8][9][10][11]15]. The social support provided by families, communities and governments together forms the social support system of the Chinese rural elderly.…”

“…[6][7][8]. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have been conducted to explore the relationship between social support and HRQOL, demonstrating that higher social support could effectively relieve the pressure on individuals and increase their subjective wellbeing [9][10][11].…”

Moderating Role of Perceived Social Support in the Relationship Between Emotion Regulation and Quality of Life in Chinese Ocean-Going Fishermen

“…Müller et al (2016) likewise found that the QoL of Brazilian fishermen were lower than that of the general population, with physical health being the most impaired area. In a study of Chinese seafarers, Xiao et al (2017) found that environmental domain scores were significantly lower than other QoL domain scores, consistent with our supposition that the particular characteristics of the fisherman occupation explain, at least in part, the lower QoL of fishermen compared to the general population. FIGURE 1 | SEM direct effect path diagram.…”

Association Between Social Support and Job Satisfaction Among Mainland Chinese Ethnic Minority Kindergarten Teachers: The Mediation of Self-Efficacy and Work Engagement

“…The SSRS was originally developed by Cauce et al (1982) with the intention to examine individual support received in society across three subscales: family support, formal support, and informal support ( Stromborg and OIsen, 2004 ). The Chinese version of SSRS was revised by Xiao (1994 , 1999) with the similarity of three dimensions, subjective support, objective support, and support utilization, and has been commonly used as a measure assessing SS in China ( Xiao et al, 2017 ). The total support score is the sum from the three subscales.…”