Social support among older adults understood through structural equation modeling

Abstract

Objectives: to analyze factors associated, directly and indirectly, with lower social support of older adults, according to sex. Methods: a cross-sectional study, with 941 older adults from a health micro-region in Minas Gerais. Descriptive and trajectory analyzes were carried out (p<0.05). Results: in groups of women and men, direct and significant associations were observed between a smaller social network (p<0.001;p<0.001), single-person housing (p=0.046;p<0.001), greater number of depressive symptoms (p<0.001;p=0.010) and lower participation in advanced activities (p<0.001;p=0.005) with lower social support. In women, younger age was directly and significantly associated with outcome (p<0.001). In men, older age, mediated by lower participation in advanced activities, was indirectly associated with outcome. Conclusions: men and women showed less social support associated with social network, housing arrangement, depressive symptoms and participation in advanced activities. Understanding the context of social support among older adults makes it possible to establish more effective measures to improve care.

Factors associated with medication adherence and therapeutic barriers: relationship with social support in the elderly / Fatores associados a adesão e barreiras a terapêutica medicamentosa: relação com o apoio social em idosos

“…[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Social support associated with medication adherence and the identification of barriers to adherence requires an understanding of factors related to the patient's understanding, beliefs or abilities; socioeconomic factors; factors related to the health condition of the elderly, such as the presence of comorbidities; factors related to therapy, such as the complexity of the medication regimen; and factors related to the health system or health team, such as communication with health professionals. [11][12][13][14][15] Social support is characterized by the perception or lived experience of the care, recognition and stigma that other people have of this support, which can be identified as something that refers to the resources made available in situations of need by other people or institutions. The assessment of social support measures the degree to which interpersonal relationships represent certain functions and provide support for the elderly in times of crisis or readaptation.…”

“…The assessment of social support measures the degree to which interpersonal relationships represent certain functions and provide support for the elderly in times of crisis or readaptation. [11][12][13][14][15] Social support usually has four dimensions: instrumental support, identified as the provision of tangible help and services; informational support, demonstrated by providing useful information, advice or suggestions to solve problems; evaluative support, inferred by the delivery of information to the other that is useful for self-assessment; and emotional support, which involves the expression of empathy, love, trust and concern. [11][12][13][14][15] With regard to social support, as one of its critical functions of social relationships, it has health benefits at different levels of care, being offered by an institution or person, and when perceived by the recipient in a positive way, it has been considered a protective factor to assist in the treatment of diseases and has a favorable relationship with health effects, that is, it is not enough to offer support to a person, but it must also be experienced as important and necessary by the recipient so that it can be related to positive effects.…”

“…[11][12][13][14][15] Social support usually has four dimensions: instrumental support, identified as the provision of tangible help and services; informational support, demonstrated by providing useful information, advice or suggestions to solve problems; evaluative support, inferred by the delivery of information to the other that is useful for self-assessment; and emotional support, which involves the expression of empathy, love, trust and concern. [11][12][13][14][15] With regard to social support, as one of its critical functions of social relationships, it has health benefits at different levels of care, being offered by an institution or person, and when perceived by the recipient in a positive way, it has been considered a protective factor to assist in the treatment of diseases and has a favorable relationship with health effects, that is, it is not enough to offer support to a person, but it must also be experienced as important and necessary by the recipient so that it can be related to positive effects. [11][12][13][14][15] As far as this study is concerned, investigating the association between social support variables in the area of ageing and adherence and barriers to the use of medication probably implies a representative factor in the daily lives of the elderly, since the difficulties identified in adherence and the barriers arising from non-adherence to therapy, especially those related to social support, can compromise functional capacity and the imbalance in the treatment of CNCDs.…”

“…[11][12][13][14][15] With regard to social support, as one of its critical functions of social relationships, it has health benefits at different levels of care, being offered by an institution or person, and when perceived by the recipient in a positive way, it has been considered a protective factor to assist in the treatment of diseases and has a favorable relationship with health effects, that is, it is not enough to offer support to a person, but it must also be experienced as important and necessary by the recipient so that it can be related to positive effects. [11][12][13][14][15] As far as this study is concerned, investigating the association between social support variables in the area of ageing and adherence and barriers to the use of medication probably implies a representative factor in the daily lives of the elderly, since the difficulties identified in adherence and the barriers arising from non-adherence to therapy, especially those related to social support, can compromise functional capacity and the imbalance in the treatment of CNCDs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to associate adherence and barriers to adherence to drug treatment with the social support perceived by elderly people attending a specialty outpatient clinic.…”