The Relationship between Social Support and Social Resilience of Flood-Affected Women (Case Study: Delgan City)

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between social support and social resilience of women affected by floods in Delgan. The statistical population of the study was all urban and rural women over 15 years old affected by the flood of 2020 in Delgan city, whose number was estimated at 34,280 people. The statistical sample of the research was 256 women and the sampling was done by simple random sampling. Data collection tools included a Perceived Social Support Questionnaire and the Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and path analysis method in AMOS software. The results showed that there was a direct relationship between family support and resilience. There was also an inverse relationship between friends support with resilience (Positive acceptance of change and safe relationships and Spiritual Influences) and Significant others' support with resilience (Personal competence, Self-Control and spiritual influences) of women affected by flood. On the other hand, there was a direct relationship between the Significant Others' support and resilience (Positive acceptance of change and safe). Overall, the results showed a positive relationship between social support and resilience of flood-affected women. Keywords Social Support, Social Resilience, Women, Flood Extended Abstract In the list of the most common natural disasters, flood is in the first place. Disasters do not affect men and women in the same way, and in the meantime, they have a more significant impact on women. False assumptions and prejudices, as well as ignorance, lead women to face a host of discriminatory and exploitative situations in post-disaster situations. The fact is that the consequences of natural disasters cannot be prevented entirely, so the capacity of people to live and resist these disasters must be improved. The new approach to reducing the effects of natural disasters is to make people resilient to natural disasters. Resilience is a concept that describes how people cope with unexpected situations and means stubbornness in the face of stress, the ability to return to normal functioning after a stressful event, and surviving and trying through adverse conditions. Flood resilience has mainly measured with the concept of physically, environmentally and spatial resilience and with a geographical approach, little research has looked at resilience in its social context studied people affected by natural hazards and disasters such as floods. The previous study in the situation of natural disasters in Iran, such as flood, shows that residents of flooded areas do not have the necessary resilience to floods and need social support from family, friends and others. Social support from family, friends and important others plays a prominent role in strengthening and expanding people's resilience in the face of natural hazards and disasters such as a flood. Given that little research has studied the effects of social support on women's social resilience in the face of the flood, therefore, this study intends to investigate the relationship between social support from family, friends and others with social resilience of women affected by flood in Delgan county. Specifically, the main issue of the study is what effect does social support from family, friends and others have on the social resilience of women affected by the flood in Delgan county in Sistan and Baluchestan province? The study is descriptive-correlational research. The statistical population of the study was all urban and rural women over 15 years old affected by the flood in 2020 in Delgan city, whose number was estimated at 34,280 people. The sample includes 256 women aged 15 years and above affected by flood in Delgan county were selected by random sampling method. In order to data collection, Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale and Perceived Social Support Questionnaire were used. The results showed that among the three components of social support, the highest mean was allocated to the support from others, and the lowest mean was assigned to the component of friends' support. Also, the compound mean and standard deviation of the total perceived social support score were 3.95 and 0.29, respectively. Among the five components of resilience, the highest mean was assigned to spiritual influences (M = 3.13, SD = 0.49), and the lowest mean given to trust in one's instincts (SD = 0.68, SD = 2.08) M); also the average mean and standard deviation of the total resilience score are equal to 2.52 and 0.43, respectively. The correlation matrix of the research variables showed that the correlation of the predictor and criterion variables was significant in most cases (P