The Relationship Between Perceived Stress And Quality Of Life In Shidu Parents:the Mediating Role Of Social Support

Objective: Losing the only child is a devastating disaster for parents.This study aimed to estimate the quality of life(QOL)and explore the associated factors of QOL,further explore the the relationship between perceived stress,social support and QOL,and examine whether social support plays the mediating role between perceived stress and QOL among shidu parents.Finally,establishing a theoretical model on the basis to provide scientific support for further research on shidu parents’ QOL.Methods: In this study,we used a multi-stage sampling method to recruit participants from 5 urban areas of Shenyang.15 communities were randomly selected from each urban area,and one parent who met the inclusion criteria was randomly selected from each of the shidu families in 75 communities.The questionnaire included basic information characteristics of shidu parent,demographic characteristics of lost children,the MOS item short from health survey(SF-36),the Perceived Stress Scale-10(PSS-10)and the Functional Social Support Questionnaire(FSSQ).SPSS 21.0 software was applied in this study,and the analysis methods included T-test,one-way ANOVA,Spearman correlation analysis and multivariate hierarchical regression analysis we used to determine the influenced factors on QOL and explore the mediating effect of social support in the relationship between perceived stress and QOL.Process macro was used to testify the mediating model.Results:1.The mean SF-36 score of physical health(PCS)was 64.83± 22.66 and the mental health(MCS)was 59.36±21.83,which were lower than the scores of PCS and MCS reported in previous studies on the QOL of ordinary Chinese parents.2.Chronic disease was the common influencing factor of PCS and MCS of shidu parents(P < 0.05).In addition,annual household income and debt are the influencing factors of physical health(P < 0.05).3.Perceived stress was negatively associated with QOL(P < 0.05),social support was positively associated with QOL(P <0.05),and perceived stress was negatively associated with social support of shidu parents(P < 0.05).4.Social support partially mediated the relationship between perceived stress and QOL of shidu parents.Conclusion: The QOL score of shidu parents was lower than that of the general population.Chronic disease,annual household income and debt were the main influencing factors of QOL of shidu parents.Perceived stress was negatively correlated with QOL and social support had a partially mediating effect between perceived stress and QOL in Chinese shidu parents.Therefore,the corresponding intervention measures can be developed to improve the QOL of shidu parents from two aspects: reducing the pressure feeling and improving the social support.