Perceived social support and psychological well-being as mediators in the relationship between social media use and quality of life among older adults in nursing homes in Istanbul

This cross-sectional study investigates the mediating role of perceived social support and psychological well-being in the relationship between social media use and quality of life among older adults residing in nursing homes. The sample comprised 302 individuals aged 60 and above living in six official nursing homes in Istanbul. Data were collected using a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Psychological Well-Being Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Quality of Life Scale for the Elderly. Analyses were conducted using SPSS 25, and mediation hypotheses were tested using the PROCESS Macro (Model 4) with 5,000 bootstrap samples. The mediation analyses revealed a significant complete mediation association between social media use and quality of life through perceived social support (B = -0.5417, SE = 0.2588, 95% CI [-1.1030, -0.0867]) and psychological well-being (B = -3.2602, SE = 0.5360, 95% CI [-4.3560, -2.2456]). These findings suggest that social media use affects quality of life not only directly but also indirectly by enhancing social support and psychological well-being, highlighting the importance of digital connectivity for older adults in institutional care settings.