Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40911350›Full record

ArticleJMIR aging2025

Stressors Disclosed on Reddit by Caregivers of Older Adults and Social Support Received: Content Analysis.

Nova Mengxia Huang, Bryan Timothy, Shirley S Ho

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in JMIR aging, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

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3citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Positive Aspects of Caregiving: A Qualitative Analysis of Reddit Posts.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Nova Mengxia HuangNanyang Technological University, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Singapore, Singapore.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0596-6301
Bryan TimothyNational University of Singapore, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Centre for Behavioural and Implementation Science Interventions, Singapore, Singapore.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0497-3398
Shirley S HoNanyang Technological University, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Singapore, Singapore.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1079-103X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundInformal caregiving of an older adult can be a stressful experience. Anonymous online communities, such as Reddit, provide caregivers with an avenue to disclose their stressors and seek support. However, how caregivers disclose their stressors and the effectiveness of these disclosures in eliciting desired social support remain unclear.

objectiveGuided by the stress process model and optimal matching theory, this study examined stressors disclosed by informal caregivers on Reddit and the types of social support they received in response.

methodsWe conducted a quantitative content analysis of posts and comments in 3 subreddits for informal caregivers of older adults. We identified specific stressors disclosed in the posts, analyzed their co-occurrence, and examined the relationship between these stressors and the presence of different types of social support in corresponding comments.

resultsWe collected 737 posts and 3446 comments from 3 subreddits. In the posts, caregivers frequently disclosed care recipients' functional problems (500/737, 67.8%), caregiving relationship strain (279/737, 37.9%), care recipients' emotional problems (195/737, 26.4%), and a scarcity of health and social resources (98/737, 13.3%). Care recipients' functional problems often co-occurred with caregiving relationship strain (χ

conclusionsCaregivers frequently disclosed primary and secondary stressors as well as stressors from the social environment, with various primary stressors usually co-occurring in Reddit posts. These stressors varied in their effectiveness in eliciting different types of social support in comments. Managers and moderators of online communities, such as subreddits, are expected to encourage caregivers' sharing of stressors and promote the exchange of social support with their peers. Health professionals and social workers should develop targeted support interventions to meet the needs of informal caregivers of older adults.

Indexed as

CaregiversDisclosureSocial MediaSocial SupportStress, PsychologicalAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHumansMaleMiddle Agedcontent analysisinformal caregiversoptimal matching theoryRedditsocial supportstressors

Identifiers

PMID40911350
PMCPMC12449668

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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.