Relationship Between Perceived and Received Social Support in Family Caregivers: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis

Introduction: The care of dependent people is eminently family-oriented, and often, there is a high level of dedication to this family care. Constant and continuous care leads to a series of negative psychological consequences. Social support has been related to improved mental health in family caregivers. We found heterogeneous results regarding the relationship between the types of social support received and the perceived level of support. In addition, to our knowledge, no reviews analyze this relationship among family caregivers. Therefore, we aimed to systematically syn-thesize the relationships between perceived and received social support in informal caregivers. Methodology: We have carried out a quantitative systematic review with meta-analysis, regis-tered in PROSPERO (id: CRD42023470047); the systematic search was carried out in the following databases: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Scopus, until November 2023. After the selection and review of the results, 12 studies were obtained, two of which were eliminated due to a high risk of classification bias. Regarding the results, a medium size positive statistical association was found (r = 0.43). The results were consistent, accurate, and robust. The Trim and Fill test showed a vari-ation of 7%. Subgroup analysis indicated no differences in the age group of the people cared for (adults or children), selection bias, and confounding bias. In conclusion, perceived social support is related to more social support received by family caregivers.