purpose : to identify the effect of applying a social support program in the operation of an health promotion center for the elders.method: the participants were 50 elderly women over 65 years dwelling in a rural area and 25 each were assigned to an experimental and a control group. a social support program was implemented for 6 hours a day, 3 times a week for 4 months for the experimental group. results: the social support program was effective on all the dependent variables of health promotion behaviors.