Bogle Victoria, Miller William C, Cathcart Heather, Mohammadi Somayyeh
Department of Psychology, Kingston University, London KT1 2EE, UK.
Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 2B5, Canada.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2025 Jul 5;22(7):1075. doi: 10.3390/ijerph22071075.
Family members of individuals with spinal cord injury often take on caregiving responsibilities, which can lead to caregiver burden. One factor that can mitigate the adverse effects of caregiving, such as caregiver burden, is receiving social support. Caregivers can obtain support from people they meet in person (in-person support) and on social media platforms (online support). The current cross-sectional correlational design study investigated the moderating effect of in-person and online support on the association between relationship quality, caregiver competence, caregiver distress, and caregiver burden (dependent variables).
Family caregivers of an individual with spinal cord injury ( = 115) completed an online survey assessing relationship quality, competence, distress, burden, and in-person and online supports.
Moderation analyses showed that the negative associations between relationship quality and physical burden (B = -0.58; = 0.019) and caregiver competence and physical burden (B = -0.73; = 0.013) were more pronounced at higher levels of online social support. Furthermore, the magnitude of the negative associations between relationship quality and emotional burden (B = -0.52; < 0.001) and caregiver competence and emotional burden (B = -0.34, = 0.012) were more pronounced at higher levels of in-person social support. Moderation analyses also revealed that the positive association between distress and social burden (B = 0.47; = 0.029) and emotional burden (B = 0.26; = 0.045) were stronger when caregivers reported higher levels of online support.
In-person and online support can buffer some aspects of caregiver burden on caregiver well-being. While online support is usually considered beneficial, greater online engagement may contribute to higher levels of burden when the distress is high. It is possible, however, that caregivers who are more distressed engage more with online media to receive support.
脊髓损伤患者的家庭成员常常承担起照顾责任，这可能导致照顾者负担。一个可以减轻照顾带来的不利影响（如照顾者负担）的因素是获得社会支持。照顾者可以从他们亲自结识的人那里获得支持（面对面支持），也可以在社交媒体平台上获得支持（在线支持）。当前的横断面相关性设计研究调查了面对面支持和在线支持对关系质量、照顾者能力、照顾者困扰和照顾者负担（因变量）之间关联的调节作用。
脊髓损伤患者的家庭照顾者（n = 115）完成了一项在线调查，评估关系质量、能力、困扰、负担以及面对面和在线支持。
调节分析表明，在较高水平的在线社会支持下，关系质量与身体负担之间的负相关（B = -0.58；p = 0.019）以及照顾者能力与身体负担之间的负相关（B = -0.73；p = 0.013）更为显著。此外，在较高水平的面对面社会支持下，关系质量与情感负担之间的负相关程度（B = -0.52；p < 0.001）以及照顾者能力与情感负担之间的负相关程度（B = -0.34，p = 0.012）更为显著。调节分析还显示，当照顾者报告较高水平的在线支持时，困扰与社会负担之间的正相关（B = 0.47；p = 0.029）以及与情感负担之间的正相关（B = 0.26；p = 0.045）更强。
面对面支持和在线支持可以缓冲照顾者负担对照顾者幸福感的某些方面的影响。虽然在线支持通常被认为是有益的，但当困扰程度较高时，更多地参与在线活动可能会导致更高水平的负担。然而，也有可能是困扰程度较高的照顾者更多地参与在线媒体以获得支持。
