Effects of social support interventions on social, physical and mental health outcomes: a scoping review.

OBJECTIVES

Social support interventions show promise for improving health, yet evidence regarding their effectiveness and optimal approaches remains limited. We aimed to examine social support intervention outcomes.

DESIGN

Scoping review.

DATA SOURCES: PubMed/Medline, Elsevier EMBASE, NIBAHL and APA PsychInfo. The search was last conducted in October 2024.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Included studies reported the effects of interventions on the social support outcomes, mental health or physical health of adults with chronic health conditions or disabilities. Studies were excluded if interventions did not aim to build or strengthen sustainable social support or did not provide quantitative outcome data.

DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: We extracted data on intervention characteristics, intervention elements and effect sizes. We synthesised effect sizes based on outcome type and intervention provider, then examined patterns in effect sizes.

RESULTS

Interventions (n=110) were commonly delivered by peer mentors (35.1%) or mental health professionals (35.4%), primarily targeting emotional and informational support. There were small to moderate intervention effects. Skill-building interventions delivered by health professionals appeared more effective than peer-delivered interventions, but results were inconsistent across studies and there were still meaningful effects from peer mentorship.

CONCLUSIONS

Effective interventions actively facilitated meaningful support by providing resources, assistance or health behaviour encouragement. Multicomponent interventions combining professional expertise with peer mentorship may optimise outcomes. Future research should further compare intervention components and formats and establish clear mechanisms linking social support improvements to health outcomes through larger-scale effectiveness trials.