Social support and quality of life in Greek women with breast cancer during chemotherapy and two years later

Abstract

health psychology report • volume 8(2),  original article background Social support in women with breast cancer is associated with quality of life (QoL) and it appears to be vital for treating breast cancer and adaptation to disease. Social support seems to decrease quantitatively and over time while significant improvement in the patients' long-term emotional and physical function is observed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the differences in levels of social support and QoL in two independent groups of patients: women with breast cancer (i) during chemotherapy and (ii) two years after the chemotherapy. participants and procedure In this cross-sectional study 74 women with breast cancer "during chemotherapy" (n = 41) and "two years after chemotherapy" (n = 33) completed the Greek version of Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and the Greek version of the Missoula-VITAS Quality of Life Index (MVQoLI-15) to measure social support and QoL respectively. All statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 25 with significance set at p < .05. results The group "two years after chemotherapy" reported better QoL than the "during chemotherapy" group. There was no difference in perceived social support between the two groups. The higher the patients' age, the lower the QoL for the "during chemotherapy" group and the higher the social support for the "two years after chemotherapy" group. conclusions QoL improves over time, emphasizing the ability of women to manage difficult situations. Social support remains important in both periods.

Changes of narrative meaning-making markers during the different phases of breast cancer treatment for women below 50 years old

“…Women below 50 years old often receive more aggressive breast cancer diagnoses and treatments, which destroy their daily life and their own visions of the world ( Goula et al, 2020 ). The type of surgery (mastectomy or quadrantectomy) and even more the effects of medical and drug treatments have physical and psychological sequelae regarding body image, loss of fertility and early menopause, sexuality, and interactions with partners and children ( Bolton & Isaacs, 2018 ; Helms et al, 2008 ).…”