Abstract
Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. During and after treatments, breast cancer patients may vulnerable for problems and in need of support. Receiving social support may reduce patients’ stress, help to cope with the situation, and improve patients' quality of life. Aim: The aim of the study was to assess perceived social support, quality of life, and explore the association between them in a sample of females' breast cancer. Methodology: Three hundred Forty-Two patients with breast cancer who visited the outpatient clinic at Hiwa Hospital in Sulaimani City were recruited to the current cross-sectional study. The data was collected at least 3 months post-chemotherapy, the direct interview was used to fill a questionnaire that includes participants' characteristics, source of social support, types of treatment, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support to assess perceived social support, and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC QLQ C-30, EORTC QLQ BR-23) to assess patients' quality of life. Statistic Package of Social Science 24 software was used for statistical analysis. Results: Participants' mean age was (42.65 ± 7.71), total social support score was (52.68 ± 20.09) on a scale of (12 to 84), about half (47.4%) received it moderately. The family was the highest source of social support (19.89 ± 7.80). Global health state score was (68.52 ± 19.80), emotional was the most affected functional subscale (52.10 ± 29.60). Regarding the symptom’s subscale, the financial deficit (55.95 ± 33.07) was the most disrupted symptom followed by fatigue (43.60 ± 21.16). Furthermore, sex function (32.99 ± 28.79) was a more impaired aspect among breast cancer-specific functions, and hair loss (59.84 ± 41.37) was the most symptom reported by the patients. Moreover, perceived social support is associated and correlated with participants' quality of life, (p ˂ 0.05). Conclusion: Kurdish breast cancer patients perceived moderate social support, the global health status was moderate to good, most affected function was emotional and sex functions, financial deficit, fatigue, and hair loss were most disrupting symptoms. Social support enhanced patients’ QoL in term of enhancing functions and minimized symptoms.
Highlights
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the leading cause of death among women worldwide
Economic difficulties are negatively correlated with quality of life (QoL) and as the functional status of breast cancer, women impair, more adverse economic situations appear, the financial deficit remains a major issue in breast cancer care
The finding of this study provides an understanding of the importance of social support, especially from family and significant others, for women who underwent breast cancer treatment
Summary
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the leading cause of death among women worldwide. Breast cancer is one of the most common and fatal diseases in the female population, which has a great impact on the psychological, emotional, social and family life of breast cancer patients. Being diagnosed with breast cancer is a very stressful event and has tremendous consequences for most persons who experience it, affecting all aspects of life and the temporary side effects associated with the treatment may influence the patients’ health related quality of life during and post treatment (Hassen et al 2019). Conclusion: Kurdish breast cancer patients perceived moderate social support, the global health status was moderate to good, most affected function was emotional and sex functions, financial deficit, fatigue, and hair loss were most disrupting symptoms.
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