Purpose: The purpose of this study was to
identify the effect of applying a social support
program in the operation of an health promotion
center for elders. Methods: The participants
were 50 elderly women over 65 years dwelling in
a rural area and 25 each were assigned to an
experimental and a control group. A social
support program was implemented for 6 hours a
day, 3 times a week, for 4 months for the
experimental group. It included health assessment,health education, counseling, consultation, exercise,
physical & occupational therapy, primary care,
recreation, lunch & transfer service for the
elders. Data were collected from May 1 to August
31, 2006 using questionnaires about the
dependant variables, and were analyzed by χ2
test, t-test, Pearson correlation coefficients and
stepwise multiple regression with the SPSS
program. Results: The social support program
for elders was effective for all dependent
variables of health promotion behaviors (t=4.03,
p=.001), life satisfaction (t=3.27, p=.002), health
knowledge (t=-2.94, p=.005), perceived health
state (t=-1.69, p=.020) and lowering the amount
of depression (t=-.1.43, p=.040). Conclusion:
By applying a social support program, the health
promotion center was able to effectively improve
the health promotion behaviors in elderly woman.