title: Social support and physical health in the rural elderly.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to describe the social support networks, level of social support, and perceived physical health of older rural adults. Eighty-two randomly selected subjects over 65 years of age participated. Data were collected using the Personal Resource Questionnaire (PRQ85) and a single-item measure to assess health. Findings suggest that older rural adults have few people in their social support networks, decreased levels of support, and poor health. Because social support has a positive influence on health, nurses need to find ways to increase the level of support in the rural aged.
authors.affiliation: Orvis School of Nursing, University of Nevada, Reno, USA.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States