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How effective are interventions with caregivers? An updated meta-analysis
Sörensen S, Pinquart M, Duberstein P.. The Gerontologist, 2002-06-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of interventions for family caregivers of older adults. Design and methods Meta-analysis was used to synthesize the effects of 78 caregiver intervention studies for six outcome variables and six types of interventions. Results The combined interventions produced a significant improvement of 0.14 to 0.41 standard deviation units, on average, for caregiver burden, depression, subjective well-being, perceived caregiver satisfaction, ability/knowledge, and care receiver symptoms. Intervention effects were larger for increasing caregivers' ability/knowledge than for caregiver burden and depression. Psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic interventions showed the most consistent short-term effects on all outcome measures. Intervention effects for dementia caregivers were smaller than those for other groups. The number of sessions, the setting, care receiver age, caregiver age, gender, type of caregiver-care receiver relationship (spouse vs adult child), initial burden, and study characteristics moderated the observed effects. Implications Caregiver interventions are effective, but some interventions have primarily domain-specific effects rather than global effects. The differences between intervention types and moderators suggest ways of optimizing interventions.
Key findings
- Results The combined interventions produced a significant improvement of 0.14 to 0.41 standard deviation units, on average, for caregiver burden, depression, subjective well-being, perceived caregiver satisfaction, ability/knowledge, and care receiver symptoms.
Why it matters
Pooling 78 studies of interventions for family caregivers of older adults, this 2002 meta-analysis found average improvements of 0.14 to 0.41 standard deviations in caregiver burden, depression, well-being, satisfaction, ability/knowledge and care-receiver symptoms. Gains were larger for caregivers' knowledge than for burden or depression, psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic approaches had the most consistent short-term effects, and effects were smaller for dementia caregivers than for other groups. It measures support for caregivers, not any treatment for Alzheimer's disease itself.
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Study details
- Study designmeta-analysis
- Evidence strengthHigh
Limitations
Effect sizes of 0.14 to 0.41 standard deviations are generally considered small to moderate, and pooling many different types of interventions together can obscure which specific kinds of support work best.
How this study scored 68/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a meta-analysis pooling many studies. Scored zero for sample size, effect reported and studied in people because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The Gerontologist) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | The Gerontologist: journal h-index 238 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 12 / 12 | A meta-analysis pooling many studies |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2002 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | A review of other studies — randomisation is not credited here |
| Times cited | 7 / 7 | Cited 1,135 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 43.7 citations a year over 26 year(s) since 2002 |
| Impact for its field and year | 6 / 6 | Cited 90.1× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 4 / 6 | Cited by 39 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 69 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Paul R. Duberstein: h-index 86 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | University of Rochester: institution h-index 1,195 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 12040138) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 68 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Sörensen, S., Pinquart, M., & Duberstein, P. (2002). How effective are interventions with caregivers? An updated meta-analysis. The Gerontologist. https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/42.3.356
Vancouver
Sörensen S, Pinquart M, Duberstein P. How effective are interventions with caregivers? An updated meta-analysis. The Gerontologist. 2002. doi:10.1093/geront/42.3.356. PMID: 12040138.
BibTeX
@article{sorensen2002-12040138,
author = {Sörensen, S. and Pinquart, M. and Duberstein, P.},
title = {{How effective are interventions with caregivers? An updated meta-analysis}},
journal = {The Gerontologist},
year = {2002},
doi = {10.1093/geront/42.3.356},
pmid = {12040138},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/42.3.356}
}
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