Title : Perceived social support and healthy self-help behavior in stroke patients: A chain mediation role of psychological resilience and rehabilitation motivation
Abstract:
Aims: To explore the mediating effects of psychological resilience and rehabilitation motivation between perceived social support and healthy self-help behavior in stroke patients.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants from four tertiary hospitals in China from October 2024 to August 2025. A total of 772 stroke patients participated in this study and completed the questionnaire survey. Patients were surveyed using the General Information Questionnaire, the Perceived Social Support Scale, 10-Item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Stroke Rehabilitation Motivation Scale and Healthy Self-help Behavior Scale. IBM SPSS v21.0 software and PROCESS macro were used for data analysis.
Results: Perceived social support, psychological resilience, rehabilitation motivation and healthy self-help behavior were significantly related to each other (P < 0.05). Psychological resilience and rehabilitation motivation played a mediating role of 19.18% and 14.86% of the total effects of perceived social support and healthy self-help behavior, respectively. Meanwhile, the chain mediating effect of psychological resilience and rehabilitation motivation (3.31%) was also significant.
Conclusions: Perceived social support can directly predict healthy self-help behavior, and indirectly predict healthy self-help behavior through the mediating effect of psychological resilience and rehabilitation motivation.
Relevance to Clinical Practice: This study provides a reference for improving healthy self-help behavior in stroke patients. Healthcare providers should pay attention to the impact of perceived social support on health self-help behavior, and formulate targeted intervention strategies based on the mediating pathway of psychological resilience and rehabilitation motivation.
