An Analysis Of Social Support And Mental Health Of Elderly: A Pilot Study

Background: Social support is a crucial component that influences mental health. It has been described as “support accessible to an individual through social ties to other individuals, groups, and the larger community”. Lesser mental health issues are seen in older adults who report feeling satisfied with their substantial social support, a partner or spouse, living with family, a broad social network, spending more time with loved ones, and receiving both practical and emotional support from family are all beneficial. Objective: To evaluate the mental health of the elderly across age and gender and the relationship between their social support and mental health. Methods: A self-structured socio-demographic profile sheet, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) scale to assess social support in elderly and Positive Mental Health (PMH) scale for the assessment of mental health was used. To get the data, a multistage random sampling procedure had been used. and the total sample comprise of 32, equally distributed over gender. The analysis was done using Frequency, Percentage, t-test and ANOVA. Results: Results revealed that majority of the elderly have average mental health and it was found to be better among male elderly than females. The age dependence indicated that 60-65 years elderly were found to be more mentally healthier as compared to other age groups. Social support has a considerable influence on the mental health of the elderly, as evidenced by the extremely positive and statistically significant association (r=.798, p<.001) between both variables at the 0.01 level.