The impact of social support on the quality of life of the elderly from rural areas

Objective. The purpose of this article is to explore social support influence on the quality of life of elderly people from rural areas and to examine whether there are differences between the quality of life of the old people living in the family and those who live alone. Methods. An epidemiological observation study was performed, and it was a cross section study. The sample consisted of 110 subjects. Berlin Social Support scale was used with the aim to measure social support, and to assess the quality of life a 10-point Likert scale was used. Normal K-K Plot and histogram graphs were used to test the agreement of the sample distributions with the normal distribution, as well as the tests: Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk. The Kruskal Wallis and Wilkisson test sum scores were used to test for differences in overall social support and the quality of life. Results. All social support parameters affect life satisfaction. These differences are statistically significant (p<0.05), which was also shown by Spirman's correlation. Respondents who rated the relationships with housemates as excellent had the highest average grade of satisfaction with life (7.38), while those who rated these relationships as horrible had the lowest average grade of satisfaction with life (1.57). Frequent contacts with close relatives and friends on a weekly basis correlate with a greater life satisfaction degree. Conclusion. It can be concluded that the index of total social support and all of its subgroups correlate with subjective life satisfaction of elders.