Influences of Social Support, Self-esteem and Hope on Health Conservation of the Vulnerable Elderly with Diabetes

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of social support, self - esteem, hope, and health conservation of the vulnerable elderly people with diabetes. METHODS: Participants were 100 vulnerable elderly people with diabetes living in D or K cities. Data collection was done through interviews from February to March, 2016. Social support was measured with the MOS-SSS (Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey), self-esteem with Self-Esteem Scale, hope with the Nowotny Hope Scale, and health conservation with the Sung's Health Conservation Scale. IBM SPSS 20.0 was used to analyze descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, independent t-test, Pearson correlation, and stepwise multiple regression. RESULTS: Factors affecting the health conservation of the vulnerable elderly people were social support, hope, education level and subjective health status. These factors explained 64.9% of the health conservation. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to construct a comprehensive nursing classification system for elderly people with diabetes in vulnerable class and to develop integrated health conservation program and nursing care as a new social support resource.