Objective To explore the mediating effect of activities of daily living between health beliefs, subjective sleep quality, and proactive mental health in the elderly in integrated medical and nursing care institutions. Methods A total of 395 elderly individuals from 10 integrated medical and nursing care institutions in Guangxi were selected as the research subjects. They were surveyed using a general information questionnaire, the health belief scale, the self⁃designed subjective sleep quality questionnaire, and the Barthel index. Binary Logistic regression model was used to analyze the effects of activities of daily living, health beliefs, and subjective sleep quality on proactive mental health in the elderly. A generalized structural equation model was constructed using Stata 18.0 software, and the Process Bootstrap procedure was applied to analyze the mediating effect of activities of daily living between health beliefs, subjective sleep quality, and proactive mental health. Results Among the 395 elderly individuals, health belief scale total score, subjective sleep quality questionnaire score, and Barthel index total score were (38.48±5.27), (3.31±1.17), and (78.13±25.28), respectively, therein 352 elderly individuals (89.11%) exhibited proactive mental health. Binary Logistic regression analysis revealed that in Model 4, health belief scale total score and subjective sleep quality questionnaire score had a positive effect on their proactive mental health in the elderly in integrated medical and nursing care institutions (P<0.05), while no statistically significant difference was observed in Barthel index total score on proactive mental health (P>0.05). Both health beliefs and subjective sleep quality had direct positive effects on proactive mental health in the elderly in integrated medical and nursing care institutions (P<0.05). Activities of daily living partially mediated the relation between health beliefs and proactive mental health, with a mediating effect proportion of 15.00%. Activities of daily living also partially mediated the relation between subjective sleep quality and proactive mental health, with a mediating effect proportion of 16.34%. Conclusion In integrated medical and nursing care institutions, most of the elderly have proactive mental health, and health beliefs and subjective sleep quality can directly affect their proactive mental health, exerting indirect effect on proactive mental health through activities of daily living.