This study extends House’s work stress and health model to examine the impact of social support on health of patients with olfactory disability. Specifically, it aims to explore whether the elements of formal and informal support system have differential support functions. The former is supposed to have a direct effect on health, while the latter has a buffering effect on stress.
61 olfactory disability patients were purposively recruited from the Otolaryngology out-patient department of a medical center located in central Taiwan. They are asked to fill out a self-administrative questionnaire, containing the information about patient’s background, the olfactory and nasal conditions, the influence of olfactory dysfunction on daily life, support received from formal and informal support systems, the Taiwanese melancholy measures, and quality of life. The data are examined with Chi Square test, ANOVA, t test, Pearson r, and Logistic regression. Our preliminary results show that: (1) Nasal conditions have a positive relation with stress and quality. (2) Stress has a negative relationship with quality. (3) Nasal conditions of olfactory disability patients with higher score of stress is serious than the patients with lower score of stress. Our Logistic regression results further suggest that support received from doctors has a direct effect on patient’s health or quality of life. On the other hand, support received from family members has a buffering effect on stress.
