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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Exploring associations between social support and mental health in older people
— a systematic narrative review | | Author(s) | Maryam Tajvar, Astrid Fletcher, Emily Grundy |
| Journal title | International Journal on Ageing in Developing Countries, vol 1, no 2, 2016 |
| Publisher | International Institute on Ageing (United Nations - Malta), 2016 |
| Pages | pp 174-193 |
| Source | https://www.inia.org.mt |
| Keywords | Informal care ; Community care ; Mental health [elderly] ; Correlation ; Research ; Literature reviews. |
| Annotation | The association between social support and mental health is still not fully understood, especially among older people. This review summarises the current state of research on the topic. The authors undertook a systematic review to identify all review studies irrespective of date, and new primary research studies published since 2007 that examined the associations between social support and mental health among older people. Overall, 24 citations (6 review and 18 original articles) met the inclusion criteria. The results for the 'main effect' model and the 'stress-buffering effect' model of the action of social support on health were summarised. Overall, the review studies provided moderate evidence that social support has a protective effect on mental health. Results from primary research studies lend some support to the hypothesis of a protective main effect of support, but are far from conclusive. There was weak evidence for a stress buffering effect on mental health. Stronger evidence was found for the association of emotional support than instrumental support with depression. Diversity in the characteristics of the studies included (in addition to limitations in their size and methodology), makes comparisons and the estimation of the effects of social support on health complicated and the interpretation of their findings difficult. This review indicates areas which need further investigation, such as studies focusing on older people across non-western countries, studies with prospective research design, and investigation on the role of gender and support providers, using more comprehensive instruments. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-180525210 A |
| Classmark | P6: PA: D: 49: 3A: 64A |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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