Search

As the ageing population in China continues to grow, more people will be living with long-term health conditions and require support from family care-givers. This scoping review therefore aims to explore sources of stress and coping mechanisms adopted by care-givers of older relatives living with long-term conditions in mainland China. Literature searches were conducted in English (CINAHL, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and SCOPUS) and Chinese (CNKI, WANFANG DATA, CQVIP and CBM) databases between October and November 2019. The searches focused on the stressors and coping mechanisms utilised by family care-givers residing in the community. Narrative synthesis was used to identify themes within the data. Forty-six papers were included: 20 papers from English and 26 from Chinese databases. Six themes captured stressors: care-giving time (N = 22), financial resources (N = 17), role and personal strains (N = 42), preparedness (N = 4), social roles (N = 10) and lack of adequate formal support (N = 22); and one theme captured coping (N = 14). Unmet needs of care-givers of older relatives in mainland China were found to be extensive. Only a few studies had attempted to explore the causal link between stressors, coping and the influence of culture. Findings underscore the significance of adequately capturing intricacies around care-givers' unmet needs, rather than generalising on the basis of culture. Qualitative studies are critical to providing a better understanding of the relationship between stressors, coping and resources afforded to care-givers by their cultural environment. Having such understanding is crucial to inform the development of competent care, which promotes self-efficacy and self-actualisation in care-givers in mainland China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ageing population has been rapidly growing over recent years. Theoretically, religion seemingly plays an important role in improving older people's health. This study examines whether believing in religion is related to better health conditions among Chinese older adults through a meta-analysis. Two researchers independently extracted the studies from a comprehensive database and grey literature search and evaluated their scientific quality. From the 3,777 potentially eligible papers, just 76 were selected. The pooled effect size detected no significant difference between Chinese religious and non-religious older adults' overall health and wellbeing. Dividing the outcomes into different categories, religious older adults reported both a higher level of anxiety (Hedge's g = −0.392, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −0.494, −0.290; p = 0.004) and yet a higher level of happiness (Hedge's g = 0.342, 95% CI = 0.074, 0.610; p = 0.018). Having a higher proportion of females in the sample is related to a smaller effect size in overall health outcomes (β = −2.205, 95% CI = −3.800, −0.613; p = 0.007) and social support specifically (β = −4.660, 95% CI = −6.261, −3.058; p < 0.0001). This study is among the first to synthesise the quantitative evidence regarding health differences between older religion believers and non-believers in China. It calls for future studies investigating the pathways underlying the religion–health relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]