Abstract
Introduction: Social support for women with breast cancer is linked to quality of life (QoL) and appears to be vital in treating breast cancer and adapting to the disease.
Purpose: The purpose of the present study is the investigation of differences in social support and QoL levels in women with breast cancer (i) during chemotherapy and (ii) two years after chemotherapy.
Method: In this cross-sectional study, 74 women with breast cancer participated in two independent groups of patients. Specifically, during chemotherapy (n = 41) and two years after chemotherapy (n = 33). The participants in the study completed the Greek version of the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale (MSPSS) as well as the Greek version of the Missoula-VITAS Quality of Life Index (MVQoLI-15) for measuring social support and quality of life respectively. All statistical analyses were performed with the statistical program SPSS 25.
Results: The group “two years after chemotherapy” reported better QoL than the group “during chemotherapy”. There was no difference in perceived social support between the two groups. The older the patients, the lower the QoL for the chemotherapy group. Conclusions: Research findings indicate that quality of life improves over time.
