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

Iliana Goula; Victoria Alikari; Georgios Charalampous; Foteini Tzavella; Sofia Zyga; Maria Tsironi; Paraskevi Theofilou

doi:10.5114/hpr.2020.93757

Authors

Iliana Goula University of Central Lancashire
Victoria Alikari University of West Attica
Georgios Charalampous Ippokrateio General Hospital of Athens, Frederick University
Foteini Tzavella University of Peloponnese
Sofia Zyga University of Peloponnese
Maria Tsironi University of Peloponnese
Paraskevi Theofilou Ministry of Health, Athens, Institution for Counseling & Psychological Studies

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5114/hpr.2020.93757

Keywords:

psycho-oncology, quality of life, social support

Abstract

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 Multi-dimensional 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.

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