The impact of perceived social support on chronic disease self-management among older inpatients in China: The chain-mediating roles of psychological resilience and health empowerment.

Background: Chronic disease self-management is a critical concern in public health, in which perceived social support plays an important role. However, the underlying pathways and mechanisms linking perceived social support to chronic disease self-management remained unclear. This study investigated whether psychological resilience and health empowerment mediated the relationship between perceived social support and the effectiveness of chronic disease self-management.

Methods: A total of 368 older inpatients with chronic non-communicable diseases were recruited from three grade-A tertiary hospitals in Changsha City, China, using a convenience sampling method between January and June 2023. Data were collected using the General Information Questionnaire, the Chronic Disease Self-Management Scale, the Perceived Social Support Scale, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Health Empowerment Scale. Descriptive demographic analysis and Pearson correlation analysis were conducted using SPSS 26.0, and model 6 in the macro program Process 4.1 was employed to test the chain mediation effect.

Results: Most older inpatients were aged 60-69 years (52.2%), followed by those aged 70-79 years (30.7%). Regression analysis revealed that perceived social support, psychological resilience, and health empowerment collectively explained 45.7% of the variance in chronic disease self-management. Mediation analysis demonstrated that perceived social support not only had a direct positive impact on chronic disease self-management (effect = 0.141, 95% CI: LL = 0.041, UL = 0.241), but also indirectly affected chronic disease self-management through three significant mediating pathways: the independent mediating effect of psychological resilience (effect = 0.102, 95% CI: LL = 0.061, UL = 0.155), the independent mediating effect of health empowerment (effect = 0.042, 95% CI: LL = 0.010, UL = 0.080), and the chain mediating effect between psychological resilience and health empowerment (effect = 0.024, 95% CI: LL = 0.006, UL = 0.047).

Conclusion: Perceived social support influenced chronic disease self-management directly and indirectly through psychological resilience and health empowerment. These findings offered practical guidance for developing more effective intervention strategies aimed at improving chronic disease self-management among older inpatients.