Social media and caregivers’ well-being: A scoping review and future research directions

Abstract

Caregivers’ well-being has become a major social concern, given the growing demand for long-term care support to meet the challenges of an aging society. As social media becomes substantially pervasive in daily life, the impacts of social media on caregivers’ well-being are increasingly gaining public attention. Although research activities are active, studies on social media and caregivers’ well-being lack consolidation and receive limited attention from researchers. To bridge the gaps, this study aims to consolidate the existing knowledge through a scoping review (with four databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and CINAHL) and call for research on caregivers from the perspective of social media and well-being. Review results from forty eligible papers indicate that impacts of social media use on caregivers’ well-being are not always positive, which encourages future research to provide more understanding of how to achieve positive effects and avoid adverse effects simultaneously. We also further discuss the findings and suggest future investigation opportunities.