Marital Quality and Social Support Status of the Patients with Breast Cancer during the Period of Chemotherapy / 中国医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the characteristics of marital quality and social support status of the patients with breast cancer during the period of chemotherapy and the correlation of both factors.Methods Seventy-seven patients with breast cancer were divided into beginning-, middle-and final-staging groups of chemotherapy.And they were studied with Olson marital quality questionnaire and Social Support Rating Scale.Results The total scores of marital quality and other factors were the lowest in the mid-chemotherapy group.Among three groups,the mean of the objective support and availability were gradually increased with the chemotherapy going.The score of objective support was higher in the final than beginning chemotherapy groups (P =0.009).There was a positive correlation between marital satisfaction and the objective support (r =0.248, P =0.036), and between the total score of quality of marriage and subjective support (r =0.286, P = 0.015).Conclusion The marital quality of breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy is poor,and subjective or and objective support might improve the patient's marital quality.