The relationship between self-care ability and frailty in rural Chinese older adults: the mediating role of depressive symptoms

Objective As the pace of population aging accelerates, rural elderly populations face multiple health challenges including depression and frailty, and their potential interactive mechanisms remain incompletely understood. To address this gap, this study investigates the relationships among depressive symptoms, frailty, and self-care capacity in rural older adults, with a specific focus on elucidating the mediating role of depressive symptoms. Methods A convenience sampling method was used to select 5,389 rural elderly people for the Self-designed General Information Questionnaire, Frailty Phenotype, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Self-Care Ability Scale. Linear regression equations and self-help sampling methods were used to verify the mediating role of depressive symptoms in self-care ability and frailty. Results Among rural older people, the prevalence of frailty was 26.5%, the prevalence of depressive symptoms was 19.5%, and the average self-care ability score was 58.91 ± 5.66. Self-care ability was negatively correlated with frailty ( r = −0.213, p < 0.01) and depressive symptoms ( r = −0.133, p < 0.01). Depressive symptoms were positively correlated with the degree of frailty ( r = 0.355, p < 0.01). Conclusion This study revealed a significant negative correlation between self-care ability and frailty in rural older adults, with depressive symptoms as a mediator.