ReviewJournal of clinical medicine2023
Association between Social Support and Depressive Symptoms in Informal Caregivers of Adult and Older Dependents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Journal of clinical medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Social support and internalizing psychopathology among sexual and gender minority individuals: A meta-analysis.Clinical psychology review · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Psychosocial Factors Associated with Emotional Exhaustion Among Family Members of Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder: The Mediating Role of Perceived Social Support.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms and Quality of Life in Family Caregivers of Dependent Children: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Assessment of Caregiver Burden and Perceived Social Support Among Individuals Providing Care to Patients Under Home Health Services: A Descriptive Study.Scandinavian journal of caring sciences · 2026Observational
- The role of social engagement and support in the association between combined caregiver-cancer survivor status and depressive symptoms.The Gerontologist · 2026Article
- Social Support and Well-Being Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: The Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Kinship, gender, and the social networks of caregivers for older adults.The Gerontologist · 2026Article
- Mental health effects of caregiving for older parents in the United Kingdom: the roles of social support, neighborhood cohesion, and neighborhood deprivation.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Caregiver Burden, Social Support, and Depressive Symptoms Among Caregivers of Patients With Heart Failure.The journal of nursing research : JNR · 2026Article
- Examining the daily experiences of parents caring for children with rare neurogenetic conditions using over 18,000 ecological momentary assessments.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The Family Caregiver Role From the Perspective of Older Women Experiencing Poverty in a High-Income Country: A Qualitative Study.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Article
- Burden and well-being among dementia caregivers in Puerto Rico: the role of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Caregiver burden and psychosocial outcomes in owners of dogs with chronic paresis and paralysis compared with owners of healthy dogs.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Neighborhood social cohesion and psychological distress among caregiving spouses with or without a nearby social support network.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Challenges and Social Implications of Informal Caregiving for People with Alzheimer's: A Qualitative Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Community volunteer visitation frequency shows a U shaped relationship with family caregiver burden for disabled elderly in China.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Endogenous Oxytocin and Depressive Symptoms in Drug Abstainers: The Roles of Perceived Social Support and Drug Abstinence Self-Efficacy.Psychology research and behavior management · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Social support is an important determinant of a carer's mental health. In recent decades, despite many studies reporting on the relationship between social support and depressive symptoms in informal caregivers of adult and older dependents, there are no systematic reviews synthesizing the available evidence. The purpose of the present study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on the relationship between social support and depressive symptoms in informal caregivers of adults and older dependent people. We searched PubMed, CINAHL (EBSCO), PsycINFO (ProQuest), and Scopus, up to 15 January 2023 for studies. We applied no date or language limits to our search. A random-effects model was used to pool effect estimates. The included studies were also independently assessed for quality. Publication bias was evaluated by funnel plots, Egger's regression test, and the Trim and Fill method. Ninety-three studies were included in the review, reporting on a total of 15,431 informal caregivers. We found a moderate negative association between perceived social support and caregiver depressive symptoms (78 studies; r = -0.35, 95% CI = -0.39, -0.31; low heterogeneity and low risk of publications bias) and a small negative association between received social support and caregiver self-reported depressive symptoms (12 studies; r = -0.14, 95% CI = -0.20, -0.07; low heterogeneity and low risk of publications bias). Our results indicate that social support is a clinically relevant construct for carer well-being and an important protective factor for depressive symptoms in informal caregivers of adult and older dependents.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.