Perceived social support among people with physical disability

Abstract

Background: Disability is more based on social, rather than medical aspects. Lack of attention and social support may impact on participation of people with physical disability in various aspects and their return to normal life in the society. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine perceived social support and related factors among physically disabled in the city of Tehran. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study by using simple random sampling was conducted on 136 people with physically disabled who were covered by Welfare Organization of Tehran. The Norbeck social support questionnaire was used.Multiple linear regression analysis with the backward method was used to identify the adjusted association between perceived social support as dependent variable and demographic variables as independent variables. Results: The present sample comprised of 68 (50%) male and 68 (50%) female with the mean age of 33 (SD = 8.9) years. Based on the results, mean of functional support was 135. 57 (SD = 98.77) and mean of structural support was 77.37 (SD = 52.37). Regression analysis model, demonstrates that variables of age and marital status remained in the model as significant predictors of functional support (P = 0.003, P = 0.004, respectively) and structural support (P = 0.002, P = 0.006, respectively). Conclusions: Based on the results, participants in the study didn't have favorable status with respect to perceived social support (in all dimensions) from their social network members. While, social support as one of the social determinants of health, plays an important role in improving psychological conditions in people's lives; therefore, being aware of social support and designing effective interventions to improve it for the disabled is very important. © 2013, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal; Licensee KowsarKowsar Ltd.