The Moderating Role of Social Support in the Relationship Between Diabetes Distress and Psychological Well-Being Among Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: A Cross-Sectional Study Protocol.
- 1Mother and Child Welfare Research Center Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences Bandar Abbas Iran.
- 2Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences Bandar Abbas Iran.
Abstract
Background and aims
Type 2 diabetes imposes a considerable psychological burden on older adults, including elevated diabetes distress and diminished psychological well-being. Social support may buffer the harmful mental-health effects of chronic disease-related stress, yet whether it moderates the link between diabetes distress and psychological well-being remains rarely examined among older Iranian adults with type 2 diabetes. This protocol aims to determine the moderating role of social support in that relationship in this population.Methods
This descriptive-analytic cross-sectional protocol will recruit 300 adults aged 60 years or above with type 2 diabetes from the Bandar Abbas Diabetes Clinic through simple random sampling from the clinic electronic registry. Trained interviewers will administer a demographic and clinical form, the age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index, the PAID-5 (diabetes distress), the MSSS-5 (social support), and the WHO-5 Well-Being Index in person or by telephone using identical structured interviews. Hierarchical multiple regression will test the diabetes distress by social support interaction on WHO-5 scores, in an unadjusted model and a model adjusted for a pre-specified demographic and clinical covariate set, with heteroscedasticity-robust standard errors, bootstrapped confidence intervals, and simple-slopes and Johnson-Neyman probing. Missing data will be handled with multiple imputation. Analyses will use IBM SPSS Statistics version 28 with two-sided tests at α = 0.05.Results
As a protocol, no empirical results are reported. The completed study will yield estimates of diabetes distress, social support, and psychological well-being levels, their bivariate associations, and the moderation effect with appropriate uncertainty quantification.Conclusion
The findings are expected to provide a scientific basis for nursing and psychosocial interventions that strengthen social support networks to protect the psychological well-being of older adults with type 2 diabetes. Ethical approval has been obtained (IR.HUMS.REC.1405.013); written or audio-recorded verbal informed consent will be obtained from all participants.
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BibTeX
@article{imani2026moderating,
title = {{The Moderating Role of Social Support in the Relationship Between Diabetes Distress and Psychological Well-Being Among Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: A Cross-Sectional Study Protocol.}},
author = {Elham Imani and Matin Roosta-Ye Abkenar},
journal = {Health science reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/hsr2.73427},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42948534},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The Moderating Role of Social Support in the Relationship Between Diabetes Distress and Psychological Well-Being Among Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: A Cross-Sectional Study Protocol.
AU - Elham Imani
AU - Matin Roosta-Ye Abkenar
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
JO - Health science reports
DO - 10.1002/hsr2.73427
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42948534
AB - Background and aims Type 2 diabetes imposes a considerable psychological burden on older adults, including elevated diabetes distress and diminished psychological well-being. Social support may buffer the harmful mental-health effects of chronic disease-related stress, yet whether it moderates the link between diabetes distress and psychological well-being remains rarely examined among older Iranian adults with type 2 diabetes. This protocol aims to determine the moderating role of social support in that relationship in this population.Methods This descriptive-analytic cross-sectional protocol will recruit 300 adults aged 60 years or above with type 2 diabetes from the Bandar Abbas Diabetes Clinic through simple random sampling from the clinic electronic registry. Trained interviewers will administer a demographic and clinical form, the age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index, the PAID-5 (diabetes distress), the MSSS-5 (social support), and the WHO-5 Well-Being Index in person or by telephone using identical structured interviews. Hierarchical multiple regression will test the diabetes distress by social support interaction on WHO-5 scores, in an unadjusted model and a model adjusted for a pre-specified demographic and clinical covariate set, with heteroscedasticity-robust standard errors, bootstrapped confidence intervals, and simple-slopes and Johnson-Neyman probing. Missing data will be handled with multiple imputation. Analyses will use IBM SPSS Statistics version 28 with two-sided tests at α = 0.05.Results As a protocol, no empirical results are reported. The completed study will yield estimates of diabetes distress, social support, and psychological well-being levels, their bivariate associations, and the moderation effect with appropriate uncertainty quantification.Conclusion The findings are expected to provide a scientific basis for nursing and psychosocial interventions that strengthen social support networks to protect the psychological well-being of older adults with type 2 diabetes. Ethical approval has been obtained (IR.HUMS.REC.1405.013); written or audio-recorded verbal informed consent will be obtained from all participants.
SN - 2398-8835
ER -