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Global Health Econ Sustain

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
An epidemiological study of social support,

pain self-efficacy, and health locus of control
among elderly patients with musculoskeletal

disorders: Which is the role of sociodemographic
and clinical variables?

Eleni Anyfantopoulou, and Paraskevi Theofilou*
School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, Patras, Greece

Abstract

The musculoskeletal system is a human body system that provides our body with
the ability to move or stand. Thus, naturally, musculoskeletal disorders could hamper
these natural functions. The purpose of this study is to investigate opinions of elderly
people with musculoskeletal disorders regarding social support, pain self-efficacy,
Academic editor: and health locus of control. A semi-structured questionnaire covering five sections
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE
was employed to survey the study participants. The first section was set to solicit
*Corresponding author: demographic data; the second was used to survey about the state of health; the
Paraskevi Theofilou
(pardrothe@gmail.com) third about the perception regarding social support on a multidimensional scale; the
fourth about the pain self-efficacy; and the fifth about the health locus of control. The
Citation: Anyfantopoulou, E. mean age of the participants recruited in this study was 76.1 years and the majority
and Theofilou, P. (2023). An
epidemiological study of social were female, primary school graduates and retirees. Furthermore, most of them had
support, pain self-efficacy, been employed for moderate/mild manual labor, had average financial status, and
and health locus of control was receiving medications for musculoskeletal problems. The results showed that
among elderly patients with
musculoskeletal disorders: Which family, social support, and financial status have positive effect on self-efficacy in pain.
is the role of sociodemographic and This study also showed that women took control of more their health better than
clinical variables?. Global Health men and the divorcees underperformed relative to the married individuals in taking
Econ Sustain, 1(2): 1412.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.1412 control of their health. In summary, social support and internal health beliefs (locus
of control) positively affect pain self-efficacy in elderly with musculoskeletal diseases.
Received: July 29, 2023
Accepted: August 18, 2023
Keywords: Elderly; Musculoskeletal disorders; Social support; Pain; Self-efficacy; Health
Published Online: September 21, locus of control
2023
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution 1. Introduction
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, Musculoskeletal diseases refer to disorders of the musculoskeletal system, that is, the body
provided the original work is system that provides the body with the ability to move or stand, as a result of which its
properly cited. normal function is hindered. Musculoskeletal diseases cover a spectrum of pathological
Publisher’s Note: AccScience conditions associated with damage to the muscles, bones, joints, and connective tissues,
Publishing remains neutral with which cause a decline in functionality and a reduction in the quality of life, especially
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional in the elderly. These disorders can be hereditary or acquired due to inflammatory,
affiliations. infectious, degenerative, developmental, traumatic, and metabolic causes. The factors

Volume 1 Issue 2 (2023) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.1412