The Relationship between Social Capital and Health-Related Quality of Life among Teachers

Abstract

Backgrounds and Objectives: Different studies have shown a relationship between social capital and health. The aim of this paper was to survey about the relation between social capital and health-related quality of life (QOL) among teachers. Materials and Methods: In this cross -sectional study, our target community was 375 people that were selected by Multi-stage cluster sampling method. For assessment of Social Capital Onyx and Bullen (2000) were used, and for assessing health-related QOL SF-36 questionnaires were used respectively. Data were analyzed with independent T, ANOVA, Pearson correlation and Regression tests. Results: The mean of respondents was 40.7±5.26 and based on gender 51.9% of them were male. Mean and SD of total QOL and total social capital scores were 64.52±17.02 and 71.21±16.74 respectively. Pearson correlation test showed that there was a significant correlation between total social capital with total health-related QOL(r =0/153 p less-than 0.004), cognitive social capital with physical health(r = 0/136 p less-than 0.011) and also communicative social capital with mental health(r = 0/133 p less-than 0.012). There was significant relationship between structural social capital and both dimensions of health-related QOL: physical health(r = 0/146, p=0.006) and mental health(r = 0/156, p=0.003). Also regression analysis showed that variables of gender, marital status and age have not impact on the relationship between social capital and QOL and have been removed from model, but income was an effective variable in the main relationship of the research. Conclusion: Our finding showed that there was positive correlation between social capital and health-related QOL among teachers. It appears that focus voluntary groups activities could increases trust and personal network, and its issue could improve mental and physical health of teachers.