School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
ARC Wessex, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2023 Apr 13;18(4):e0282183. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282183. eCollection 2023.
It is widely acknowledged that social network support plays an important role in the quality of life and illness management of breast cancer survivors. However, the factors and processes that enable and sustain such support are less well understood. This paper reports baseline findings from a prospective UK national cohort of 1,202 women with breast cancer (aged <50 years at diagnosis), recruited before starting treatment, conducted in 2016-2019. Descriptive, univariate and multivariate regression analyses explored associations between the individual, and network member characteristics, and the type of support provided. Social network members provided a substantial level of illness-related, practical and emotional support. Highest contribution was provided by friends, followed by close family members. The social network members of women who did not have a partner provided a higher level of support than those in networks with a partner. Women without higher education were more reliant on close family members than those with higher education, and this was more so for women without a partner. Women with higher education without a partner were more reliant on friends and were overall best supported. Women without higher education who did not have a partner were overall least well supported. They had much smaller networks, were highly reliant on close family members, and on high level contributions from all network members. There is a need to develop network-based interventions to support people with a cancer diagnosis, prioritising support for the groups identified as most at risk. Interventions that support engagement with existing network members during treatment, and those that help extend such networks after treatment, are likely to be of benefit. A network perspective can help to develop tailored support and interventions by recognising the interactions between network and individual level processes.
社会网络支持被广泛认为对乳腺癌幸存者的生活质量和疾病管理起着重要作用。然而，支持的因素和过程还不太清楚。本文报告了一项针对 1202 名年龄<50 岁的乳腺癌女性（诊断时）的前瞻性英国全国队列研究的基线结果，该研究于 2016-2019 年进行。描述性、单变量和多变量回归分析探讨了个体和网络成员特征与提供支持类型之间的关系。社会网络成员提供了大量与疾病相关的、实际的和情感的支持。朋友的贡献最大，其次是亲密的家庭成员。没有伴侣的女性的社会网络成员提供的支持比有伴侣的女性的网络成员提供的支持更高。没有高等教育的女性比有高等教育的女性更依赖亲密的家庭成员，而没有伴侣的女性更是如此。没有高等教育但没有伴侣的女性更依赖朋友，总体上得到的支持最多。没有高等教育且没有伴侣的女性总体上得到的支持最少。她们的社交网络较小，非常依赖亲密的家庭成员，而且所有社交网络成员的贡献都很高。有必要开发基于网络的干预措施来支持癌症诊断患者，优先为那些被确定为风险最高的群体提供支持。在治疗期间支持与现有网络成员互动的干预措施，以及帮助治疗后扩展此类网络的干预措施，可能会有所帮助。网络视角可以通过识别网络和个体层面过程之间的相互作用，为量身定制的支持和干预措施提供帮助。
