Disability and Health Unit, Centre for Health Equity, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Level 4, 207, Bouverie Street, 3010, Australia.
Centre of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville. Victoria, Australia.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2022 Dec;57(12):2345-2358. doi: 10.1007/s00127-022-02333-8. Epub 2022 Jul 7.
This systematic review aims to assess and evaluate quantitative evidence on the association between informal caregiving and mental health in young people.
This review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021251666). We conducted our search in the following four databases: Medline (PubMed and OVID), EMBASE, PsycInfo and Web of Science. The last search was performed on the 17th of March of 2021. Quantitative studies that focused on carers aged 25 years or less and compared the mental health status of carers and non-carers were eligible for inclusion. Two reviewers independently assessed articles for eligibility and performed the quality assessment using the Risk of Bias tool in Non-Randomised Studies of Exposures (ROBINS-E).
We identified a total of ten eligible articles. Mental health outcomes included depression, anxiety and other mental or emotional problems. Nine out of the ten studies showed that being a young carer was consistently associated with poor mental health. However, the overall quality of evidence was low, and longitudinal data were limited to three articles. The primary sources of bias were confounding and outcome measurement.
Young carers experience poorer mental health outcomes than their non-caring peers. However, we identified an overall lack of quantitative evidence of high methodological rigour. To establish if young caring leads to poor mental health, future research should focus on addressing the identified methodological limitations and understanding the mechanisms explaining these associations. Addressing these gaps can better inform the allocation of appropriate support and resources to optimise the mental health of young carers.
本系统评价旨在评估和评价关于年轻人非正式护理与心理健康之间关联的定量证据。
本研究已在 PROSPERO（CRD42021251666）中注册。我们在以下四个数据库中进行了检索：Medline（PubMed 和 OVID）、EMBASE、PsycInfo 和 Web of Science。最后一次检索是在 2021 年 3 月 17 日进行的。符合纳入标准的定量研究侧重于年龄在 25 岁或以下的照顾者，并比较了照顾者和非照顾者的心理健康状况。两名审查员独立评估文章的合格性，并使用非随机暴露研究中的偏倚风险工具（ROBINS-E）进行质量评估。
我们共确定了十篇符合条件的文章。心理健康结果包括抑郁、焦虑和其他心理或情绪问题。十篇研究中有九篇表明，作为年轻的照顾者与心理健康状况不佳始终相关。然而，证据的总体质量较低，且纵向数据仅限于三篇文章。主要的偏倚来源是混杂和结果测量。
年轻的照顾者比他们没有照顾的同龄人经历更差的心理健康结果。然而，我们发现总体上缺乏高质量的定量证据。为了确定年轻的照顾是否会导致心理健康状况不佳，未来的研究应侧重于解决已确定的方法学限制，并了解解释这些关联的机制。解决这些差距可以更好地为年轻照顾者提供适当的支持和资源分配，以优化他们的心理健康。
