Congress Abstracts 2005

185

THE RELATIONSHIP OF SOCIAL SUPPORT, PERSONAL FACTORS, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL STATES AMONG JAPANESE WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER: A PREOPERATIVE PHASE. Reiko Makabe, RN, PhD, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima-shi, Japan; and Tadashi Nomizu, MD, Mie Sato, RN, Yoko Komiyama, RN, and Junko Kikuchi, RN, Hoshi General Hospital, Kooriyama-shi, Japan.

In Western cultures, it is known that breast cancer patients have stressful life experiences, and social support effects on psychological states, especially in their preoperative phase. It is important for Japanese oncology nurses to gain knowledge to provide care for Japanese women with breast cancer.

Few studies of social support have conducted on Japanese women with breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of social support, personal factors, psychological and physical states of Japanese women with breast cancer before breast surgery.

This study was based on the House’s social support framework, including social support (both positive and negative sides), personal factors, and health outcomes (i.e., psychological and physical states). Social support and personal factors have effects on health outcomes among women with breast cancer.

This study was part of a larger longitudinal study that examined the effects of social support on psychological and physical states of Japanese women with breast cancer. A convenience sample of 133 Japanese women with breast cancer participated in this study. The Japanese versions of the Interpersonal Relationship Inventory (IPRI), to measure support and conflict, and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), to measure psychological states, were used to collect data. Demographic and illness-related data were also obtained. Data were collected a few days before breast surgery.

Data were analyzed using Pearson product-moment correlation and stepwise multiple regression analysis.

Significant correlations were found between conflict and age (r = –0.27, p = 0.002), conflict and psychological states (r = 0.19, p = 0.03), marital years and support (r = 0.22, p = 0.025), marital years and conflict (r = –0.26, = 0.008), marital years and psychological states (r = –0.24, p = 0.014), and psychological and physical states (r = 0.38, p < 0.001). Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that physical states (b = 0.39) was most influencing factor on psychological states, followed by conflict (b = 0.20). The findings suggested that social support and personal factors were important factors for the women’s psychological states. Further longitudinal studies were needed to describe and to investigate relationships of social support, personal factors, psychological and physical states among Japanese women with breast cancer as a process of their breast cancer experience (Funded by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science #14572287).