The Influence of Social Support on Life Satisfaction of Elderly People in Care Homes

Social network of each individual plays a significant role in the aging process, while at the same time social support is considered as one of the major factors attributing to quality of life of the elderly. Insufficient social inclusion of an individual leads to loneliness as a consequence of the lack of social relations, which commonly occurs among older people and greatly affects their quality of life. The aim of this paper is to explore the perception of the social support for elderly and disabled people in care homes and its impact onto their life satisfaction, as well as correlation between social support and loneliness. The instruments used in the research were the Social Provisions Scale, a general measure to evaluate current relations with important people in a person’s life, and Socio-Demographic Data Questionnaire. The sample involved 113 people over 65 in care homes for elderly and disabled in Dubrovnik-Neretva County. The results have shown that there are differences in quality of life of the elderly in care homes as well as in their life satisfaction with regard to social sup¬port, and also that there is a correlation between the lack of support and loneliness. Furthermore, the research results have shown that there are no statistically significant gender differences in the quality of life of the elderly with social support.