Depressed mood and social support as predictors of quality of life in women receiving home health care. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • We examined relationships among depressed mood, social support and quality of life in 58 medically ill low-income women 40 years and older receiving home health care. Analyses showed a negative relationship between depressed mood and quality of life (p's < or = 0.05). Positive relationships were found between number of people available for support and two of three quality of life domains as well as satisfaction with support and all three domains (p's < or = 0.05). Results also provided preliminary support that belonging to a church is related to emotional well-being (p = 0.039) and among those belonging to a church, recent increased activity was related to social/family well-being (p = 0.004). Mediational analyses revealed a cycle of depressed mood, dissatisfaction with social support, and loss of social support providers underlying the poor quality of life of many participants. This highlights the need to address the relationship between depression and social support when treating patients with chronic illness.

publication date

  • October 1, 2005

Research

keywords

  • Depression
  • Home Care Services
  • Quality of Life
  • Social Support

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 24644470660

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1007/s11136-005-4326-1

PubMed ID

  • 16155779

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 14

issue

  • 8