Effect of Perceived Social Support on Psychosocial Adjustment of Turkish Patients with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Aims: To identify the psychosocial adjustment of Turkish patients with breast cancer and the effects of perceived social support on their adjustment. Materials and Methods: The sample comprised 100 volunteering patients diagnosed with breast cancer in the last six months reporting to the Outpatient Chemotherapy Unit at the Medical Faculty Hospital in northern Turkey. The data for the study were collected through the Descriptive Information Form, the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale-Self-reflection (PAIS-SR) and the Cancer-Specific Social Support Scale and analyzed via SPSS 16.0 for Windows. Descriptive statistics, Chi square test, ANOVA and correlation were used to evaluate data. Results: There was a negative significant correlation between mean scores in the sub-scales of the social support scale and the ones in the sub-scales of the psychosocial adjustment to illness scale (p<0.05). Similarly, there was a negative significant correlation between confidence support and health care orientation as well as adjustment to social environment. Likewise, emotional support was in a negative significant correlation with health care orientation, adjustment to domestic environment, extended family relationships and adjustment to social environment. Conclusions: It was concluded that social support for patients with breast cancer had an influence on their psychosocial adjustment to illness. Holistic care should be given to breast cancer patients by oncology nurses especially in the first six months of treatment. It could be concluded that patients should be accompanied by their family/relatives in treatment and care following their diagnosis with breast cancer, that their family should be made more aware of the fact that the patient should be physically and psychologically supported, that patients with breast cancer should be provided with domiciliary care, and that they should be encouraged to participate in social support groups.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Post-traumatic Growth in Breast Cancer Patients - a Systematic Review

“…DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7314/APJCP.2015.16.2.641 Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Post-traumatic Growth in Breast Cancer Patients -a Systematic Review iii) Both PTSD and PTG in BC survivors (Tjemsland et al, 1998;Cordova et al, 2001;Jones, 2001;Sumalla et al, 2009;Ho et al, 2011;Chan et al, 2011;Koutrouli et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2014). iv) PTSD and psychological distress and diagnostic challenges in the same patient population (Gurevich et al, 2002;Tedeschi and Calhoun, 2004;Bellizzi et al, 2010;Rustad et al, 2012;Yavuzsen et al, 2012;Abu-Helalah et al, 2014;Chang et al, 2014;Rizalar et al, 2014) and v) Treatment approaches (Andrykowski et al, 2000;Levine et al, 2005;Knobf, 2007;Bellizzi et al, 2010;Assi et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2014) Discussion PTSD is a psychiatric condition that occurs as a result of exposure to a traumatic event, defined as a threat of death or serious injury (Kangas et al, 2002). This in turn evokes intense fear, helplessness, or horror (DSM-IV, 2000).…”

“…Prevalence rates of BC related PTSD varied from 3 to 19% in the literature (Andrykowski et al, 2000). There are multifactorial causes/risk factors for PTSD such as cancer stage, prognosis, patient-specific treatment approaches, presence or absence of pain, performance status, need for hospitalization and degree of social support (Kangas et al, 2002;Niu et al, 2014;Rizalar et al, 2014). After diagnosis, a BC patient's worries appear to increase gradually as concerns increase regarding treatability of the disease and prognosis (Deimling et al, 2006).…”

“…It is clear that BC diagnosis is a trigger for the development of numerous traumatic psychological reactions for the patient (Kangas et al, 2002). Patients who face life threatening diseases like BC experience different stressful events including financial and social worries, fear of recurrence, psycho-social pressure from family and fear of death (Nordin et al, 2012;Arving et al, 2013;Rizalar et al, 2014). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-lV) report categorises these symptoms as phobias and anxiety (DSM-IV, 2000).…”

Breast Cancer Awareness among Turkish Nursing Students

“…It has been reported that the breast cancer accounts for 30-40 % of all the cancer incidences in women all over the world (Andsoy and Gul, 2014;Che et al, 2014;Rizalar et al, 2014). In Turkey, breast cancer incidence rates are rapidly increasing (Andsoy and Gul, 2014).…”

Relationships between Social Support and Social Image Concerns in Turkish Women with Breast Cancer

“…The social support from the husband and close environment is important in overcoming all these problems (Kinsinger et al, 2011;Akdeniz, 2012). Social support has a key role in adapting to crises that emerge in life, such as breast cancer (Tan and Karabulut, 2005;Shelby et al, 2008;Rizalar et al, 2014). Several studies have suggested that regular psychosocial support provided to the cancer patient has positive effects on the prognosis of disease and quality of life and decreases the problems experienced by the patient (Aslan et al, 2007;Bahar, 2006;Babaoglu and Oz, 2003).…”