Perceived Social Support and Social Isolation in the Older Adults

Background and Objectives: Social relations are one of the most important elements of every society that have undergone significant changes during the history of human life. Given the growing population of the elderly and the confrontation of the Iranian society with the aging population, addressing the social needs and communication networks of the elderly is important. The main purpose of the research was to investigate the relationship between social support and social isolation of the elderly people in Tehran.

Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was descriptive-analytic. The present study was conducted in 1396 and among 384 elderly people 65 years old and above in Tehran who were selected by multistage cluster sampling method. The data collection tools consisted of a comprehensive social isolation (UCLA) questionnaire and a multi-dimensional social perceived social support (MSPSS). Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 25 using descriptive and analytical methods, using t-test and analysis of variance. A significant level was found for the comparison of the social isolation among the elderly groups of 0.05%.

Results: Approximately 78% of the older adults in Tehran enjoyed good social support and the prevalence of social isolation in this population was 62%. There was no significant relationship between gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status of the elderly and their social support (p>0.05).

Conclusion: The elderly people of Tehran had high social support and there was a significant and inverse relationship between the two variables of support and social isolation of the elderly. This means that with the increase in social support, the level of social isolation of the older adults was reduced.