Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, USA.
J Rural Health. 2023 Mar;39(2):434-443. doi: 10.1111/jrh.12721. Epub 2022 Oct 31.
For cancer survivors, social functioning greatly influences other quality of life dimensions. While there is potential for differences in social functioning to vary as a function of geographic residence, few studies examine the social functioning of rural cancer survivors specifically. This study aims to help fill this gap.
This was an embedded mixed-methods study where all participants completed a questionnaire, and some were purposively selected to complete an interview to gather more information about social functioning (ie, social roles, activities, network, support, and constraint). Participants (n = 93; 63% rural) were recruited through a state cancer registry and cancer care facility. Participants were predominately White, non-Hispanic (92.47%), roughly half female (54.84%), and on average, diagnosed in the past two years (SD = 1.68), and 61.45 (SD = 10.87) years old.
Few differences in the social functioning of rural and nonrural participants were found on questionnaires, though rural participants reported larger networks and more overall support. Across groups, common themes in the interview data were the experience of both social support (eg, instrumental support) and social constraint (eg, others minimizing participants' problems or sharing their own negative experiences).
This was the first cancer survivorship study to thoroughly examine social functioning by geographic residence. Rural cancer survivors described some unique strengths, but major group differences were not apparent. All participants highlighted situations when others, even with good intentions, were unhelpful to them. Future interventions to improve social functioning could work to dispel the belief that cancer survivors should handle their cancer on their own.
对于癌症幸存者来说，社会功能极大地影响着其他生活质量维度。虽然社会功能可能因居住地理位置的不同而有所差异，但很少有研究专门探讨农村癌症幸存者的社会功能。本研究旨在填补这一空白。
这是一项嵌入式混合方法研究，所有参与者都完成了一份问卷，其中一些人被有目的地选择进行访谈，以收集更多关于社会功能（即社会角色、活动、网络、支持和限制）的信息。参与者（n=93；63%来自农村）通过州癌症登记处和癌症护理机构招募。参与者主要是白人，非西班牙裔（92.47%），大约一半是女性（54.84%），平均诊断时间为过去两年（SD=1.68），年龄为 61.45 岁（SD=10.87）。
在问卷中，农村和非农村参与者的社会功能差异不大，但农村参与者报告了更大的网络和更多的总体支持。在所有组中，访谈数据中的共同主题是社会支持（例如，工具性支持）和社会限制（例如，其他人轻视参与者的问题或分享自己的负面经历）的体验。
这是第一项通过地理位置全面检查社会功能的癌症生存研究。农村癌症幸存者描述了一些独特的优势，但主要群体之间的差异并不明显。所有参与者都强调了这样一种情况，即即使是出于好意，其他人对他们也没有帮助。未来改善社会功能的干预措施可以努力消除癌症幸存者应该独自应对癌症的信念。
