ABSTRACT

Aging of the cognitive function has been known to be affected by frailty, social support, as well as a variety of demographic and disease-related factors. Although it is well known that both the frailty and the support have been the major factors to influence the aging, there have been very few studies to reveal the relationship among the factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating effect of social support on the relationship between the frailty and the cognitive function. The participants were 138 members who aged over 75 years and were recipients of customized care services in the senior welfare center, and a structured questionnaire was administered to them. Data were analyzed using multiple regression to examine the mediating effect of the social support on the relationship. The results showed that the social support was found to have a mediating effect on the relationship while the cognitive function was significantly negatively correlated with the frailty and positively correlated with the social support. This means that the support should be increased to improve the cognitive function of the community-dwelling older adults with frailty, that is, the support should be intervened as a management strategy based on frailty levels.