Background The importance of social support for cancer patients has been established in previous studies. However, much of the existing research has identified associations between general measures of social support and various health indicators. Nevertheless, some research has begun to suggest the utility of more nuanced understandings of how patients receive and use social support.
Objective To examine the roles of nondirective (ie, support that accepts recipients’ feelings and is cooperative with their plans) and directive support (ie, support that prescribes “correct” choices and feelings) as well as social support needs and desires among patients with advanced breast cancer.
Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews (qualitative method) with 8 patients with stage IV breast cancer to collect qualitative information about the disease-related challenges they faced, the support they received from their families and medical teams, and the appropriateness of directive and nondirective support. In addition, we used the 14-item Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to assess clinically relevant cut-offs for anxiety and depression and the 16-item Social Support Inventory to assess the provision of nondirective and directive social support to the patients (quantitative method).
Results Qualitative findings suggested that there was considerable variability among patients’ reports of social support provided by family, friends, and the medical team. From the qualitative data, patients reported directive support as more useful in times of acute need and emphasized the importance of supportive systems rather than supportive persons in providing emotional support. From the quantitative data, patients reported nondirective support as more typical of support received from both family and medical teams than directive support. On the HADS, 1 patient had a score of 9 on the anxiety subscale, above the score of 7 that is for mild anxiety. No patients scored above the criterion for mild depression, also a score of 7.
Limitations Very small sample limits the ability to generalize findings.
Conclusions The right type of support for patients with advanced breast cancer is contingent on a range of variables, which suggests that the key characteristic of support may not be any particular feature, but the nuanced adjustment of its content and style of delivery to the patient’s circumstances.
Funding Peers for Progress
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