Perceived social support and coping strategies in advanced cancer patients

Background: Cancer patients who perceived themselves as having adequate social support resources fare better and make adaptation easier than patients who perceive their support as inadequate. Besides, the levels of social support can have an important impact on patient's ways of coping when confronting the challenge of advanced cancer. Objective: To analyze the relationships among demographic and medical variables, perceived social support, and coping strategies in patients with advanced cancer. Methods: A descriptive correlational study was performed in 132 advanced cancer patients under chemotherapy treatment. The participants were asked to provide their demographic data and complete the questionnaires of Personal Resource Questionnaire-85 that measure perceived social support and Ways of Coping Inventory-Cancer version that measure coping strategies. Besides, medical data was obtained from participants' hospital records. The data was analyzed using SPSS statistical package. Results: This study has contributed to a better understanding of the theoretical linkages among perceived social support and coping mechanisms in advanced cancer patients. The results showed that there was a significant moderate positive relationship between perceived social support and seeking and using social support, and focusing on the positive. Also, there was a significant positive relationship between perceived social support, income, and health perception. Discussion: The findings indicate that in advanced cancer there is a need to monitorize patients with low levels of perceived social support and enhance their social support resources, particularly in men.