SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
This article is part of the Research TopicCaregiver Burden in Alzheimer's and Other Chronic ConditionsView all 10 articles
Meta-synthesis of qualitative research on the family-based caregiving experience for indi viduals with cognitive impairment: A systematic review
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Nursing (Nursing School of Smart Healthcare Industry), Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China
- 2Henan University of Chinese Medicine Henan Provincial Hospital of TCM, Zhengzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective:Qualitative studies on the caregiving experiences of families with individuals who have cognitive impairments are diverse; However, individual studies frequently fail to encapsul ate the multifaceted nature of caregivers' experiences. This research employs meta-synthesis to cons olidate relevant findings, aiming to produce more comprehensive conclusions that can inform the d evelopment of caregiving intervention programs through systematic evidence synthesis. Methods: W e conducted a computerized systematic search across PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Web of Scie nce, ProQuest, Embase, and Scopus databases to identify qualitative studies on the caregiving expe riences of family caregivers of patients with cognitive impairment, covering the period from databa se inception to January 2025. Study quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Centre for Evidence-Based Health Care Quality Assessment Criteria (2016). The pooled meta-integration a pproach was employed to reanalyze, interpret, and synthesize qualitative findings into new categori es through systematic reclassification and aggregation. Results: Fifteen studies met the inclusion cri teria, yielding 74 distinct findings. These findings were consolidated into 15 categories representing four synthesized outcomes: 1) insufficient understanding among patients and caregivers regarding dementia etiology and symptomatology; 2) negative caregiving experiences; 3) relational challenges within familial and social networks; and 4) adaptive modifications in coping strategies for dementia. Conclusion: Family caregivers face multifaceted challenges in managing cognitive impairment; ho wever, psychosocial support from familial, social, and societal networks facilitates positive adaptatio n. National governments and healthcare systems should prioritize service improvements that address the demonstrated needs of both patients and caregivers through enhanced health service provision and targeted policy interventions.
Keywords: cognitive impairment, experience, Health Care, Meta-integration, qualitative research
Received: 19 Sep 2025; Accepted: 05 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Deng, Wan, Liu, Zhao and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaohui Liu
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.