Relationship between social participation and general health among the elderly

Background: Health promoting behaviors in the elderly can potentially improve their health and reduce health care costs. This study was aimed to investigate the relationship of social participation with general health among the elderly people.

Methods: The research population in this correlational study included all elderly people (aged 60 and older) in district 5 of Tehran. A total of 80 persons were selected by convenience sampling method. In order to collect data, a researcher-made social participation questionnaire and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) were used. Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficient, U-Mann-Whitney test and simple linear regression were applied to analyze the data.

Results: The findings showed no statistically significant correlation between social participation and general health and its dimensions (P>0.05). Among demographic variables, only age was negatively correlated with social participation (P<0/05).

Conclusions: Absence of relationship between social participation and health may be attributed to the effect of peripheral factors like social, economical and political situation during which the research was performed. A similar study in a more stable time or other places may contribute to the generalizability of the findings.