The impact of caregiver burden on benefit finding: exploring the mediating role of psychological resilience in family caregivers of hip fracture patients

In the process of caring for elderly patients with hip fractures, caregivers are prone to experience caregiver burden. Excessive burden not only affects the physical and mental health of the caregivers themselves but also impacts the quality of care, hinders the patient's recovery process, and reduces patient's quality of life. This study explores the relationship between benefit finding, caregiver burden, and psychological resilience, while verifying the mediating effect of psychological resilience between caregiver burden and benefit finding. The findings provide a theoretical basis for improving the quality of care provided by caregivers. This multicenter, cross-sectional study recruited 501 caregivers of older hip-fracture patients from four hospitals in China between January 10 and July 15 2025. Data were collected using a general information questionnaire, the Benefit Finding Scale, Resilience Scale, and the Caregiver Burden Scale. Pearson's correlation and mediation analyses were performed using IBM SPSS (version 27) and the PROCESS macro (version 5.0). The mean total score of benefit finding was (73.01 ± 17.48). Benefit finding was negatively correlated with caregiver burden (r = -0.289, P < 0.001) and positively correlated with psychological resilience (r = 0.267, P < 0.001), whereas caregiver burden was negatively correlated with psychological resilience (r = - 0.356, P < 0.001). Caregiver burden influenced benefit finding directly through psychological resilience: the indirect effect via psychological resilience was significant (β = - 0.045, 95% CI [- 0.092, - 0.012], P < 0.001). Psychological resilience plays a crucial mediating role between caregiver burden and benefit finding. Healthcare providers should pay close attention to caregivers' burden and implement effective interventions to enhance their psychological resilience. Such efforts can help caregivers experience positive feelings during caregiving, ultimately improving both the quality of care and the patient's quality of life.