Tulane Cancer Center, Tulane University , New Orleans , LA , USA.
Department of Psychology, Tulane University , New Orleans , LA , USA.
J Psychosoc Oncol. 2019 Nov-Dec;37(6):699-712. doi: 10.1080/07347332.2019.1580331. Epub 2019 Apr 1.
Social support is fundamentally important to the well-being of patients with cancer, and informal caregivers often wish they had better insight into how to help. The aims of this study were to quantify the types of social support that patients qualitatively expressed as important, and examine whether demographics and mental health symptoms explained the type of support desired. A sample of 82 patients with cancer (Gender: 65.9% Male, Age: M = 57.5, Race/Ethnicity: 90.2% White, non-Latino/a) completed measures of demographics, health, anxiety, and depression, and responded to an open-ended question asking them to list three types of support that they desire from their caregivers. These responses were then reliably coded into 18 different categories. Most commonly, participants expressed a desire for companionship (45%). Other common requests included empathy (33%), home care support (28%), information support (16%), being treated the same (15%), and help with appointments (13%). Patients who were more anxious were more likely to desire companionship (OR = 4.41, p = .033), and younger patients were more likely to desire home care support (OR = 7.24, p = .016). Findings have implications for providing individually-tailored social support to patients with cancer.
社会支持对癌症患者的健康至关重要，非正式照顾者通常希望更好地了解如何提供帮助。本研究的目的是量化患者定性表示重要的社会支持类型，并探讨人口统计学和心理健康症状是否解释了所需的支持类型。
一个由 82 名癌症患者组成的样本（性别：65.9%男性，年龄：M=57.5，种族/民族：90.2%白人，非拉丁裔/西班牙裔）完成了人口统计学、健康、焦虑和抑郁的测量，并回答了一个开放式问题，要求他们列出三种他们希望从照顾者那里得到的支持。然后，这些回答被可靠地编码为 18 个不同的类别。
最常见的是，参与者表示希望得到陪伴（45%）。其他常见的要求包括同理心（33%）、家庭护理支持（28%）、信息支持（16%）、平等对待（15%）和帮助预约（13%）。更焦虑的患者更有可能希望得到陪伴（OR=4.41，p=0.033），而年轻的患者更有可能希望得到家庭护理支持（OR=7.24，p=0.016）。
这些发现对为癌症患者提供个性化的社会支持具有重要意义。
