To investigate the current status of social support, positive coping, psychological resilience and caregiver burden among older caregivers of elderly patients after hip fracture surgery and to analysis latent profiles of caregiver burden.

A convenience sampling method was used to select 234 older caregivers of elderly patients who underwent hip fracture surgery and admitted to the Orthopedics Center of Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from February to October 2025. Inclusion criteria: age≥60 years old, family caregivers of elderly patients who spent the longest time providing care and undertook the primary caregiving responsibilities during hospitalization (care duration≥four hours per day), able to communicate effectively and understand the questionnaire. Exclusion criteria: presence of severe illness or impaired consciousness, having experienced a major stressful event within the past six months, having an employment relationship with the patient or receiving remuneration, currently participating in other studies. The investigation was conducted using a general information questionnaire, the social support appraisals scale, the simplified coping style questionnaire, the Conner-davidson resilience scale and the Zarit caregiver burden scale. Pearson correlation analysis were used to verify the correlations; a mediation model was used to examine the mediating effects of positive coping and psychological resilience on the relationship between social support and caregiver burden among older caregivers of elderly patients after hip fracture surgery. Latent profile analysis was used to investigate the heterogeneity in caregiver burden.

Among older caregivers of elderly patients after hip fracture surgery, positive coping (β=-0.115, P<0.001) and psychological resilience (β=-0.058, P<0.001) of older caregivers demonstrated significant individual mediating effects between social support and caregiver burden; positive coping and psychological resilience also showed a significant chain mediating effect between social support and caregiver burden (β=-0.074, P<0.001). The latent profile analysis of the caregiver burden could be divided into four groups: severe caregiver burden group (11.1%), moderate caregiver burden group (33.3%), moderate personal burden-mild responsibility burden group (30.3%), and mild caregiver burden group (25.2%).

The positive coping and psychological resilience among older caregivers of elderly patients after hip fracture surgery act as a chain-mediating factor between social support and caregiver burden, and their caregiver burden is heterogeneous. Medical staff can develop tailored training programs on age-friendly care based on the latent profile analysis of the caregiver burden and the relationships between various variables, in order to alleviate the challenges of aged care.