Association Between Perceived Social Support and Depression in Postmenopausal Women

The most common symptom in early menopausal women is depression. Depression is a type of chronic disease that impacts on postmenopausal women’s life. Social support plays a protective role for women and enables them to solve their life problems and thus, feel less depressed. We assessed depression as a chronic disease and evaluated the association between perceived social support and depression in postmenopausal women. This correlation-analytic study was conducted on 321 postmenopausal women using 2-stage cluster sampling in Ahvaz in 2014. Data collecting instruments were comprised of a demographic questionnaire, a depression scale (Beck Depression Inventory-II), and a social support questionnaire (PRQ 85-Part 2). Data analysis was done using SPSS, version 20. The Spearman correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the relationship between perceived social support and depression, and the ?2 test was employed to assess the relationship between perceived social support and demographic characteristics. The Spearman correlation test revealed a significant reverse relationship between perceived social support and depression (r = -0.468; P = 0.001). There were significant relationships between perceived social support and some personal variables such as marital status, education level, and job status (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant relationships between perceived social support and some other personal characteristics such as income and ethnicity (P > 0.05). We found a reverse relationship between perceived social support and depression in postmenopausal women. Raising awareness in society apropos the relationship between social support and depression in postmenopausal women can enhance their quality of life