Predicting Psychological Self-Care Behaviors Based on Psychological Capital and Social Support

Abstract

This study aimed to explain the perceived roles of psychological capital and social support in the initiation, organization, and maintenance of psychological self-care behaviors among adults living in Tehran. A qualitative descriptive design using conventional qualitative content analysis was employed. The participants were 18 adults living in Tehran who were recruited through purposive maximum-variation sampling with attention to diversity in gender, age, marital status, educational attainment, and occupational status. Data were collected exclusively through individual semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 45–75 minutes. Interviews continued until theoretical saturation was reached; preliminary saturation occurred after the sixteenth interview, and two additional interviews were conducted to confirm the stability and comprehensiveness of the categories. Interviews were audio-recorded with permission, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed concurrently with data collection. NVivo 14 software was used to organize transcripts, codes, categories, analytic memos, and relationships among concepts. Credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability were strengthened through participant validation, peer review of coding decisions, maintenance of an audit trail, maximum-variation sampling, reflexive documentation, and rich description of the research context. Four main categories were identified: “psychological capital as the motivational engine of self-care,” “translation of psychological resources into emotional regulation and healthy boundaries,” “responsive social support as a safe context for self-care,” and “the interactive cycle of personal resources, social relationships, and contextual barriers.” Participants described self-efficacy, hope, realistic optimism, and resilience as resources that enabled them to recognize psychological needs, formulate feasible self-care goals, initiate action, and resume routines after disruption. Emotional, informational, instrumental, and appraisal support reduced isolation, validated psychological needs, facilitated help-seeking, and promoted adherence to self-care routines. In contrast, controlling or mismatched support, role overload, lack of time, financial constraints, and the stigma attached to psychological help-seeking impeded self-care. Psychological self-care emerged as a relational and context-sensitive process rather than an exclusively individual choice. Psychological capital appeared to provide the motivational and self-regulatory capacity required for self-care, whereas responsive social support supplied emotional safety, practical resources, feedback, and accountability. The findings suggest that effective self-care programs should simultaneously strengthen hope, efficacy, resilience, and realistic optimism and improve people’s ability to request, receive, evaluate, and provide appropriate social support.