Social support affected caregiver strain and quality of care of older adults with end-stage dementia. A systematic review.

Abstract Introduction: Family caregivers who take care of end stage dementia patient often experience high caregiver burden. This study aims to review the impact of social support affects caregiver strain and quality of care of older people with end-stage dementia. Methods: The systematic review was done by using the PubMed and CINAHL database for the search. The strings of keywords included “dementia”, “social support”, “family caregiver”, “quality of care” in research databases. Results: A total 323 articles were chosen for literature review. However, 317 of them were excluded due to reviewing title and abstract, not included social support or community support or hospice, and not end-stage dementia. 5 articles were selected for the systematic review which included 3 qualitative studies and 2 quantitative studies. It was found that social support does have an impact on caregiver strain and quality of care. Conclusion: The effect of social support was beneficial in improving family caregiving strain and quality of care. Keywords: dementia; quality of care; social support; family caregiver; caregiver strain; hospice; end stag