# Correlation Analysis of Social Support, Family Resilience, and Family Function in Elderly Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: The Mediating Roles of Family Resilience

## TL;DR

This study shows that family resilience partially explains how social support affects family function in elderly COPD patients, suggesting combined interventions could help improve family function.

## Contribution

The study identifies family resilience as a partial mediator between social support and family function in elderly COPD patients.

## Key findings

- Family function is strongly correlated with both social support and family resilience.
- Family resilience partially mediates the relationship between social support and family function.
- Combined interventions targeting social support and family resilience may improve family function in COPD patients.

## Abstract

This study analyzes the relationship between family resilience, social support, and family function of elderly patients with COPD. It explores the mediating effect of family resilience between social support and family function and the influence path among them, so as to provide evidence for medical staff to formulate targeted intervention measures and improve family function of elderly patients with COPD.

Using a convenience sampling, 535 elderly patients with COPD were recruited in the respiratory and critical care departments of six tertiary hospitals in Ningxia, China from August 2022 to September 2023. The participants were assessed by general information questionnaire, family resilience assessment scale, social support assessment scale, family density, and adaptability scale. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between variables, and Model 4 in PROCESS 4.2 plugin was used to explore the mediating role of family resilience in the relationship between social support and family function.

Pearson correlation analysis showed that family function was positively correlated with social support (r = 0.406, p < 0.001) and family resilience (r = 0.622, p < 0.001), and family resilience was also positively correlated with social support (r = 0.361, p < 0.001). Mediation analysis revealed that social support was directly associated with family function (β = 0.556, 95%CI = 0.371, 0.741). Additionally, social support can also indirectly associated with family function via the mediation of family resilience (β = 0.526, 95%CI = 0.378, 0.672). The direct effect accounts for 51.39% of the total effect and the indirect effect accounts for 48.61% of the total effect.

Family resilience plays a partial mediating role in social support and family function of elderly patients with COPD, and medical staff should pay attention to the integration of social support intervention and family resilience intervention to better improve family function of patients.