Social Support on Family Caregivers of Alzheimer Patients: A Systematic Review

Family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer face many challenges when caring for them. The patients need not only the care of health professionals but also social support. Therefore, this study aimed to summarize the existing studies on social support for family caregivers of Alzheimer patients in a systematic review.

In this review, the search was done in domestic (Magiran, SID) and foreign (Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, PubMed) databases as well as Google Scholar from 1990 to August 2021, according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews) statement. The Cochrane and STROBE checklists were used to evaluate the quality of the articles.

Out of 709 articles on social support in family caregivers of Alzheimer patients, 7 entered the final list. The number of family caregivers participating in these studies ranged from 81 to 648. The mean age of caregivers in all studies was over 50 years. The studies emphasized the importance of improving social support in family caregivers of Alzheimer patients. Most study studies were conducted in America, which included all the interventional studies in this systematic review. In most studies, social support’s role in reducing family caregivers’ problems and promoting their satisfaction was important. 

Creating social networks and encouraging the use of these supports will be very helpful in reducing the problems of family caregivers of Alzheimer patients. More attention to health literacy is likely useful as a revelation of the need for social support in family caregivers of Alzheimer patients and the government.