Social media use facilitating family caregivers’ positive aspects of caregiving: a perspective of media system dependency

Family caregivers’ well-being has become a major social concern. As social media becomes increasingly essential in everyday life, including for family caregivers, this study addresses caregivers’ well-being by emphasizing the importance of enhancing their perceived positive aspects of caregiving (PAC) through social media use. Specifically, the study investigates the impact of social media use on caregivers’ PAC by developing a research model grounded in theories of PAC, media system dependency, and basic psychological needs. We collected survey data from family caregivers who actively engaged with social media in their daily lives. The research model was examined using structural equation modelling. The results indicate that three types of social media use derived from media system dependency theory—understanding, orientation, and play use—can facilitate family caregivers’ basic psychological need satisfaction. Furthermore, the satisfaction of caregivers’ basic psychological needs significantly enhances their perception of PAC. The study underscores the potential of information technology, particularly social media, to enhance family caregivers’ well-being and offers valuable insights for IT design and digital interventions tailored to caregivers. It also calls for further research on the use of IT to support caregivers and highlights important implications for caregiver-focused digital strategies in the social work field.