Social support, social participation, and depression among caregivers and non-caregivers in Canada: a population health perspective

Family caregivers are invaluable to the healthcare system as the unpaid assistance they provide enables seniors to remain at home. However, caregivers experience negative health outcomes, such as high depression rates. Caregiver depression is important because it predicts poor physical health. Poor caregiver health results in an inability to provide care, affecting the care of the care receiver, increasing the risk of institutionalization. Poor social support and social participation have been found to be significant mediators of depressive symptoms in caregivers. Caregivers with less social participation reported higher depression scores than non-caregivers. However, sample sizes in previous studies were small. Little information exists on the impact of social support and social participation on caregiver depression in Canada. The objective of this study is to use population-level data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on aging to investigate the relationship between social variables and depression among caregivers and non-caregivers.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among social support and social participation on depression in caregivers and non-caregivers using population-level data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA). It was hypothesized that 1) lower levels of social support and social participation would be related to higher depression scores; 2) caregivers versus non-caregivers would report lower amounts of social support and social participation and higher depression scores; and 3) social support and social participation would mediate the relationship between caregiver status and depression. Caregivers and non-caregivers in the sample with higher perceived amounts of affectionate support reported lower depression scores than caregivers and non-caregivers with lower perceived amounts of affectionate support. Hypothesis one was supported. Caregivers versus non-caregivers reported significantly higher amounts of affectionate support, emotional/informational support, and positive social interaction. Hypothesis two was not supported. The path analysis examined the relationships among caregiver status, social support (measured by affectionate support, emotional/informational support, positive social interaction, and tangible support), and depression. Of the four social support domains, affectionate support was the only significant mediator in the relationship between caregiver status and depression. Hypothesis three was supported. In sum, higher levels of affectionate social support and social participation were associated with lower depression scores.