Priego-Cubero Emilia, Orgeta Vasiliki, López-Martínez Catalina, Del-Pino-Casado Rafael
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain.
Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London W1T 7BN, UK.
J Clin Med. 2023 Feb 3;12(3):1244. doi: 10.3390/jcm12031244.
Providing care can be challenging for informal carers and increases the risk of mental health problems, such as experiencing clinical symptoms of anxiety. While strengthening social support for informal carers is a common recommendation to reduce this risk, no systematic review or meta-analysis to date has examined the relationship between social support and anxiety symptoms in informal carers. The aim of our study was to systematically review the current evidence on the association between perceived and received social support and anxiety symptoms in informal carers of dependent adults and older people, and to comment on the quality of the evidence.
We searched PubMed, CINAHL (EBSCO), PsycINFO (ProQuest), Scopus, and LILACS up to 31 March 2021 for articles reporting on the association between caregiver anxiety symptoms and social support. A random-effects model was used to pool estimates, and each study was rated for quality using pre-specified criteria. Publication bias was assessed using a funnel plot and Egger's regression test, which was adjusted using trim and fill analysis.
From the 2180 identified articles, 35 studies met our inclusion criteria, reporting on 5036 informal carers in total. We found a moderate negative association between perceived social support and caregiver anxiety symptoms (r = -0.31, 95% CI = -0.35, -0.27) and a small, negative association between received social support and caregiver anxiety (r = -0.15, 95% CI = -0.22, -0.08).
The levels of perceived social support showed a significant negative association with caregiver anxiety symptoms. Policymakers and those working directly with informal carers should consider the development of targeted social support interventions that specifically enhance the levels of perceived social support to reduce symptoms of anxiety in informal carers.
对于非正式照料者而言，提供照料可能具有挑战性，并会增加心理健康问题的风险，比如出现焦虑的临床症状。虽然加强对非正式照料者的社会支持是降低这种风险的常见建议，但迄今为止，尚无系统评价或荟萃分析研究社会支持与非正式照料者焦虑症状之间的关系。我们研究的目的是系统评价当前关于成年受抚养者和老年人的非正式照料者所感知到的社会支持及获得的社会支持与焦虑症状之间关联的证据，并对证据质量进行评论。
我们检索了截至2021年3月31日的PubMed、CINAHL（EBSCO）、PsycINFO（ProQuest）、Scopus和LILACS，以查找报告照料者焦虑症状与社会支持之间关联的文章。采用随机效应模型合并估计值，并使用预先设定的标准对每项研究的质量进行评分。使用漏斗图和Egger回归检验评估发表偏倚，并通过修剪和填充分析进行调整。
从识别出的2180篇文章中，35项研究符合我们的纳入标准，总共报告了5036名非正式照料者。我们发现，感知到的社会支持与照料者焦虑症状之间存在中度负相关（r = -0.31，95%可信区间 = -0.35，-0.27），获得的社会支持与照料者焦虑之间存在小的负相关（r = -0.15，95%可信区间 = -0.22，-0.08）。
感知到的社会支持水平与照料者焦虑症状之间存在显著负相关。政策制定者和直接与非正式照料者合作的人员应考虑制定有针对性的社会支持干预措施，专门提高感知到的社会支持水平，以减轻非正式照料者的焦虑症状。
