Can feelings be influenced by the availability of social support in community-dwelling elderly people?

• Grant number: 24/20873-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Keika Inouye
• Grantee: Lívia Mazzulli Moreira da Silva
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Social support plays a fundamental role in maintaining mental health, directly influencing the psychological and emotional well-being of elderly people. In terms of feelings and moods, social support directly influences the quality of emotions experienced. Thus, this research aims to verify whether there is a relationship between social support and feelings in community-dwelling elderly people. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study, based on the quantitative research method. The sample will consist of elderly people registered in five Family Health Units in the city of São Carlos, São Paulo, living in areas of high social vulnerability. According to calculations made using the Survey Monkey® platform, a sample of 95 participants will be required to have a 95% confidence level and a 10% margin of error. The instruments used for data collection will be: Participant Sociodemographic Characterization Form, Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Social Support Scale and Portuguese Scale of Positive and Negative Affects Short Form. The data obtained will be entered into a database in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows program for descriptive and correlational statistical analyses. All stages of this work will follow the ethical guidelines for scientific research involving human beings. The research hypothesis is that elderly people who have better social support have higher scores of positive affects and lower scores of negative affects.