Current situation of social support and correlation factors analysis in breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy

Objective To describe the status quo of social support among breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and to explore the correlation factors of social support to enhance the quality of life eventually. Methods A cross-sectional study was undertaken in an oncology specialized hospital in Beijing. With convenience sampling, a total of 160 subjects were recruited and completed demographic questionnaire and Social Support Questionnaire to collect data. Results The total score of Social Support Questionnaire was (38.18±11.73) . The score of subjective support, objective support and support availability were (24.86±5.15) , (9.25±3.37) , and (7.34±1.96) respectively. The result of single factor analysis shows that the differences in age, education, average monthly income, general life satisfaction, marital status, occupation and whether know disease conditon had significant correlation with social support (F=3.437, 9.893, 4.452, 2.976, 3.422, 3.256, 17.974; P<0.05) . The Spearman correlation analysis indicated that patient age was negatively correlated with social support (r=-0.242, P<0.05) . While the education level, average monthly income and general life satisfaction were positively correlated with social support (r=0.237, 0.170, 0.267; P<0.05) . Conclusions Thus, nurses should emphasize on elder patients and patients with lower income due to their lower score of social support. In addition, the resources of social support for patients in China are relatively unitary. Nursing staff should enrich the exogenous social support resources for patients through various forms, so as to provide better social support for patients. Key words: Breast neoplasms; Social support; Chemotherapy