Social work as a professionalized set of social services serves communities by promoting communication and interaction between residents. Furthermore, it connects residents to various resources, enhances their sense of belonging to their communities, and addresses their emotional needs. Social work in rural China is expected to enhance rural residents’ life satisfaction, although its performance can be difficult to quantify. This study used data from a social work performance survey of 558 rural residents in Jiangning District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China to determine the links between social work performance, social support, and residents’ life satisfaction and test the mediating effect of social support and the moderating effect of residents’ sense of self-governance in connecting social work performance and life satisfaction. The data were organized, descriptive and correlation analyses were conducted using the software SPSS22.0, and the mediating and moderating effects were tested using SPSS Process macro v3.4.1. Results indicate that for rural residents in China, effective social work significantly improved life satisfaction through social support, whose effect varied depending on the level of sense of self-governance. The findings offer practical insights into upgrading rural residents’ life satisfaction through the improvement of social services in rural areas.
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