Meng, Hongdao

Objective: To explore the relationship between social support and quality of life (QoL) among family caregivers of persons with severe mental illness (SMI) and examine the mediating roles of care burden and loneliness. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out between December 2017 and May 2018. A random sample of 256 family caregivers of persons with SMI in rural areas of Sichuan Province, China was recruited for participation.

• Online interventions improve the condition and preparedness of caregivers, but future evaluations should consider study designs with multiple time points, control groups, and content that is personalized and interactive. • Results are encouraging that the training programs included in this systematic review improved caregiver knowledge, self-efficacy, anxiety, depression, caregiver burden and satisfaction. • Results, however, were less consistent when evaluating competency, stress, and care recipient status.

Depression is one of the most common psychological consequences of caregiving. Caring for patients with severe mental illness (SMI) adds significant challenges to family caregivers' mental health. The purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of depression among caregivers of SMI patients in rural areas of Sichuan province of China, to examine the influence of social support and care burden on depression, and to explore the intermediary effect of care burden between social support and depression among caregivers of SMI patients.