Perceived helpfulness and impact of social support provided by family, friends, and health care providers to women newly diagnosed with breast cancer

TLDR

Cancer patients require substantial support throughout their cancer journey. The study aimed to assess the perceived helpfulness of informational, emotional, and decision‑making support from family, friends, and health‑care providers in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients and to understand how these support needs evolve over time. Patient surveys were administered at two time points—approximately two months after diagnosis and five months later—to capture support experiences. Support was highly perceived as helpful near diagnosis (e.g., 84 % of patients reported helpful informational support from providers), but perceived helpfulness declined significantly over the first year, and baseline emotional support as well as both baseline and follow‑up emotional and informational support were significantly associated with higher health‑related quality of life and self‑efficacy.

Abstract

We evaluated the helpfulness of informational, emotional, and decision-making support received by women newly diagnosed with breast cancer from their family, friends, and health care providers. Data were collected at two time points via patient surveys: baseline on an average 2 months post-diagnosis and follow-up at 5 months post-baseline. In the period closer to diagnosis, majority of the women received helpful informational support from health care providers (84.0%); helpful emotional support from family (85%), friends (80.4%), and providers (67.1%); and helpful decision-making support from providers (75.2%) and family (71.0%). Emotional support at baseline and emotional and informational support at 5-month follow-up were significantly associated with patients' health-related quality of life and self-efficacy outcomes (p<0.01). Perceived helpfulness of informational, emotional, and decision-making support provided by family, friends, and providers however significantly decreased over time (p<0.001). Cancer patients' desire significant amount of support throughout their cancer journey. Our results show that while patients receive a lot of support during the period closer to diagnosis, receipt of helpful support drops significantly within the first year itself. In order to facilitate cancer patients' adjustment to their illness, efforts need to be made to understand and address their support needs throughout the cancer experience.