A Longitudinal Study of Social Support, Psychological and Physical States among Japanese Women with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess changes in social support, psychological, and physical states among Japanese women with breast cancer over time. A convenience sample of 60 Japanese women with breast cancer participated in this 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 instruments with established reliability and validity were used : the Japanese versions of the General Health Questionnaire to measure psychological states and the Interpersonal Relationship Inventory to measure support and conflict. Data analyses included descriptive statistics and repeated measures analyses.

The main results were that repeated measures analyses found no significant differences in subjects' support, conflict, or psychological states across time. However, there were significant differences in physical states (F (4,236)＝66.06, p＜0.0001). Tukey's post hoc analysis identified significant differences in the number of sings and symptoms between Time Ⅰ (M＝0.42, SD＝0.70) and Time Ⅱ (M＝3.08, SD＝1.33), between Time Ⅰ and Time Ⅲ (M＝3.33, SD＝1.56), and between Time Ⅰ and Time Ⅳ (M＝3.03, SD＝1.59).

This study suggested that nurses need to consider changes in social support, psychological and physical states as important factors to help Japanese women's adjustment to breast cancer as an ongoing process in their lives before and after breast surgery.