AUTHOR=Sánchez-Recio Raquel , Oliván-Blázquez Bárbara , Méndez-López Fátima , Gascón-Santos Santiago , Martí-Lluch Ruth , Zabaleta-Del-Olmo Edurne , Tamayo-Morales Olaya , Maderuelo-Fernández José A. , Casajuana Marc , López-Jiménez Tomas , Motrico Emma , Gómez-Gómez Irene , Sánchez-Pérez Álvaro , Rodero-Cosano María Luisa , Llobera Joan , Bellón Juan A. , Moreno-Peral Patricia , Bolíbar Bonaventura , Recio-Rodríguez José I. , Ramos Rafel , Clavería Ana 

TITLE=Self-reported health and depression among EIRA cohort: a moderated mediation model of sex and perceived social support

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1540530

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1540530

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=BackgroundThe positive relationship between health and good perceived social support has been widely demonstrated in the scientific literature. It is known that having a good social support influences the proper maintenance of health even as a protective factor, besides being a good predictor in the recovery of health during a disease process, influencing differently men and women.AimThis project aims to study the moderating effects of perceived social support in the relationship between depression and self-perceived health according to gender, after a complex multiple-risk intervention was carried out in patients of primary health care with low social support.MethodsA cluster randomized clinical trial was developed in the subgroup of patients included in phase 3 of the EIRA project. CONSORT recommendations were followed to present the results. To determine the mediating effect between social support and self-perceived health, three regression analyses were carried out using the procedure designed by Hayes through the PROCESS macro for SPSS.Results3,062 people (54.9% women) participated in the study. Men reported experiencing more social support and self-perceived health (p < 0.001) than women at the beginning of the study, but women reported higher social support at post-intervention. Moderation analyses showed that, post-intervention, those women (bsimple = −2.9867, p < 0.001) and males (bsimple = −1.4337, p < 0.001) who scored lower in depression reported higher social support.ConclusionIn primary care, it is necessary to encourage intervention strategies that promote social networks as a key element of positive action aimed at maintaining and improving the population’s health, especially in adults and more specifically in women.Clinical trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT03136211.