Self-esteem and hope must be considered when developing services to reduce depression in Korean women with breast cancer.

Purpose:The study was to identify relationships between the family support, perceived health status and self esteem in Korean women with breast cancer. Methods: Data were collected by questionnaires from 214 women with breast cancer in inpatient and outpatient settings at three different university hospitals and one cancer hospital in B city, Korea. The instruments included Family Support Scale, Perceived Health Status Scale, and Self Esteem Scale. The collected data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, t-test, ANO-VA, Scheffe' s test, and Pearson' s correlation coefficients by SPSS WIN 15.0 program. Results: There were significant differences in the family support by age, education, and cost burden. There were significant differences in the perceived health status by education, occupation, economic status, pain, fatigue, and cancer insurance. There were significant differences in the self esteem by age, occupation, economic status, type of religion, pain, fatigue, and cancer insurance. Self-esteem was significantly correlated with family support and perceived health status. Conclusion: These results suggested that promoting perceived health status and enhancing family support would increase self-esteem effectively among Korean women with breast cancer.