ArticleJMIR aging2024
Perceptions and Utilization of Online Peer Support Among Informal Dementia Caregivers: Survey Study.
Article in JMIR aging, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Social media use and positive aspects of caregiving: a longitudinal test of the social compensation hypothesis.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Provider Perspectives on the Design, Implementation, and Impact of Technology on Person-Centered Dementia Care: Insights From the Alzheimer's Association Dementia Care Provider Roundtable.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- A mixed methods cross-sectional study of peer support needs and barriers among multiple sclerosis caregivers in Ireland.Journal of health psychology · 2026Article
- Can the Use of Telehealth Guidance Services Reduce Depressive Symptoms Among Family Caregivers of Older Adults with Cognitive Impairment? A Moderated-Mediation Model.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Experiences of Formal and Informal Support Among Adult-Daughter Caregivers of People With Dementia in Sweden: A Qualitative Study.Dementia (London, England) · 2026Article
- Understanding Digital Literacy of Persons With Dementia and Their Caregivers: A Scoping Review and an Evolutionary Concept Analysis of Empirical Studies.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- Digital Support for Family Caregivers: Potential and Challenges of a Hypothetical AI Care Companion.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Feasibility and Usability of a Web-Based Peer Support Network for Care Partners of People With Serious Illness (ConnectShareCare): Observational Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Observational
- Ethical disclosure of biomarkers for Alzheimer risk in Latin American participants.Frontiers in dementia · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Informal dementia caregivers are those who care for a person living with dementia and do not receive payment (eg, family members, friends, or other unpaid caregivers). These informal caregivers are subject to substantial mental, physical, and financial burdens. Online communities enable these caregivers to exchange caregiving strategies and communicate experiences with other caregivers whom they generally do not know in real life. Research has demonstrated the benefits of peer support in online communities, but this research is limited, focusing merely on caregivers who are already online community users. Objective: We aimed to investigate the perceptions and utilization of online peer support through a survey. Methods: Following the Andersen and Newman Framework of Health Services Utilization and using REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture), we designed and administered a survey to investigate the perceptions and utilization of online peer support among informal dementia caregivers. Specifically, we collected types of information that influence whether an informal dementia caregiver accesses online peer support: predisposing factors, which refer to the sociocultural characteristics of caregivers, relationships between caregivers and people living with dementia, and belief in the value of online peer support; enabling factors, which refer to the logistic aspects of accessing online peer support (eg, eHealth literacy and access to high-speed internet); and need factors, which are the most immediate causes of seeking online peer support. We also collected data on caregivers' experiences with accessing online communities. We distributed the survey link on November 14, 2022, within two online locations: the Alzheimer's Association website (as an advertisement) and ALZConnected (an online community organized by the Alzheimer's Association). We collected all responses on February 23, 2023, and conducted a regression analysis to identifyn factors that were associated with accessing online peer support. Results: We collected responses from 172 dementia caregivers. Of these participants, 140 (81.4%) completed the entire survey. These caregivers were aged 19 to 87 (mean 54, SD 13.5) years, and a majority were female (123/140, 87.9%) and White (126/140, 90%). Our findings show that the behavior of accessing any online community was significantly associated with participants' belief in the value of online peer support (P=.006). Moreover, of the 40 non-online community caregivers, 33 (83%) had a belief score above 24-the score that was assigned when a neutral option was selected for each belief question. The most common reasons for not accessing any online community were having no time to do so (14/140, 10%) and having insufficient online information-searching skills (9/140, 6.4%). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that online peer support is valuable, but practical strategies are needed to assist informal dementia caregivers who have limited time or online information-searching skills.
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