The Relationship between Social Support and Dimensions of Elder Maltreatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Abstract Introduction and Aims: Many studies have investigated the relationship between social support and the prevention of elder abuse; however, their results are somehow inconsistent in terms of the association. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the published studies on the relationship between social support and the prevention of elder maltreatment. Materials and Methods An electronic search was conducted until January 2023, using such databases as PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The present research included cross-sectional, longitudinal, and case-control studies. Study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment were conducted by two researchers independently. The Newcastle-Ottawa checklist was utilized to evaluate the quality of studies. The random effects model was employed to perform a meta-analysis. Results In total, 34 studies were included in this systematic review, out of which 28 articles were eligible for meta-analysis. The results showed that 72% of the studies were of high quality, and there is a significant relationship between social support and elder maltreatment. Accordingly, the lack of social support increased overall maltreatment (odds ratio: 1.27, 95% confidence interval: 1.17–1.38; I2 = 94.2%, p < 0.0001)). Moreover, lack of social support had an increasing effect on the level of psychological abuse (1.49, 1.12–1.97; 88.5%, p < 0.001), physical abuse (1.42, 0.72–2.78; 70.0%, p = 0.01), and neglect (2.46, 1.10–6.01; 89.1%, p < 0.001), which shows heterogeneities among the results of the included studies. On the contrary, the lack of social support showed a decreasing effect on financial abuse (0.93, 0.87–0.99; 46.0%, p = 0.10) Conclusion This systematic review provides evidence that social support in the form of structural or functional support may plays an important role in improving the quality of life of the elderly.