| Research Abstract |
Social support has direct effects on stress and on health outcomes, also buffers the effect of stress on health outcomes. In Western cultures, it has been reported that social support has effects on health outcomes among women with breast cancer. However, few studies have assessed about social support and the effects on health outcomes among Japanese women with breast cancer. The purpose of this study was 1) to investigate the relationship of social support, psychological, and physical states among Japanese women with breast cancer and 2) to assess changes in social support, psychological, and physical states among them over time.
A convenience sample of 60 Japanese women with breast cancer participated in tins longitudinal study. Women were recruited from a hospital in a metropolitan area in Japan. Data were collected five times: before (Time I) a few weeks after (Time II), one month after (Time III), six months after (Time IV), and one year after breast surgery (Time V). Two instrumen
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ts with established reliability and validity were used: the Japanese versions of the General Health Questionnaire and the Interpersonal Relationship Inventory, which consists of subscales of Support and Conflict. On this study sample, each alpha ranged from.72 to.94. Demographic and illness-related data were also obtained. Data analysis included Pearson's correlations and repeated measures ANOVAs.
Thesize of a family was significantly correlated with support at Time I (r=.28). The other significant correlations were found between support and physical states at Time I (r=.26) and between psychological and physical states at Time II (r=.26), Time IV (r=.31), and Time V (r=.38). Repeated measures ANOVA found no significant differences in subjects' Support, Conflict, or GHQ scores across time. However, there were, significant differences in physical states (F(4,236) = 66.06, p <.0001). Post-hoc analysis identified significant differences in the number of sings and symptoms between Time I (M=.42, SD=.70) and Time II (M=3.08, SD=1.33), between Time I and Time III (M=3.33, SD=1.36), and between Time I and Time IV (M=3.03, SD=1.59)
This study suggested there were significant relationships among social support, psychological, and physical states before and after breast surgery. Thus, nurses need to consider social support as an important factor to help Japanese women's adjustment to breast cancer as an ongoing process in their lives before and after breast surgery. Further longitudinal studies are needed to investigate the relationship among social support, psychological and physical states in Japanese women with breast cancer as a process of breast cancer experience during breast cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. Less
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