Introduction: Increasing of elderly people in all countries, including Iran, is accompanied by economic, social, and healthcare challenges. Therefore, assessing the needs of the elderly is essential in every community. One of the factors affecting the mental health of elderly is the special attention paid to the social support of these people. Therefore, this research was aimed to explore the impact of social support on mental health among elderly in the west health center of Tehran, Iran.
Methodology: This was descriptive- analytical research conducted on over 60 years old elderly covering by west health center of Tehran resident of municipal areas of 9, 18, 21, 22 at 2021-2022. The sample size was assigned by Krejcie & Morgan table including 351 people regarding response rate of 85% completed 300 questionnaires. The research tools were GHQ-28 and social support assessment. The descriptive results showed by descriptive statistics, and analytical results reported by Pearson regression coefficient, linear regression, independent T and K² by SPSS software version 26 on a significant level of 0.05.
Result: The average of mental health equal 37.5(10.1) among male elderly and 37.1(12) among female elderly and also social support among male elderly equal 47.6(7.8) were and 48.6(7.5) among female were undesired. Also, there was significant and negative regression between mental health and social support of elderly people. Furthermore, with decreased of one- point in the total social support score, the average of mental health well- being is exported to increase by 30% which means that we are going to see reduction in the number of elderly response who have mental health problems.
Conclusion: Increasing social and emotional support for the elderly is a key part of the welfare of this group of people in the community, which showed provided by governments through the support of family, friends, and other means, including welfare, rehabilitation services, financial, and counselling.