THE EFFECT OF DIMENSION OF SOCIAL SUPPORT ON HOPE AND LONELINESS IN PATIENTS WITH BREAST CANCER

Loneliness is one of the major psychosocial concerns among patients with cancer. Diagnosis, acute treatment and complications of breast cancer may create experience of loneliness. Hope is an essential factor in the lives of cancer patients. Realistic hope, felt with the awareness of the problem, is an important factor for coping with the problems of the patient in an efficient manner. Social support is an important aspect of modern cancer cares. Social support plays a major role in adaptation with chronic and serious illnesses, such as cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dimension of social support on hope and loneliness in patients with breast cancer.

The method of study was descriptive-correlation. 100 patients with breast cancer were selected randomly and enter to study. The data were collected with GHQ, Miller Hope Scale, the UCLA Loneliness Scale and Social Support Questionnaire -Sarason. Data were analyzed with using Pearson correlation.

A positive relationship existed between social support and hope (r = 0/88) and negatively associated with loneliness (r = - 0/91). A negative correlation between hope and loneliness was found (r = - 0/93) (p<0.05).

The findings suggest that social support influence on hope and loneliness. Planning should be considered for social support of patients with breast cancer in order to heal psychological problems such as loneliness and hopelessness and to enhance the quality of life of patients.