Social support as a mediator between symptom distress and quality of life in women with breast cancer

Objective: To examine relationships between symptom distress and quality of life when religious support and personal support were introduced as mediating variables. Design: Cross-sectional, correlational. Setting: Internet recruitment following university institutional review board approval. Participants: Mailed questionnaires from 100 women with breast cancer, mean age 46, length of time since surgery 1 to 24 months, predominantly White. Instruments: Symptom Distress Scale, Religious Support Scale, FACT-B, and Facit-Sp-12. Results: Personal support was positively related to quality of life and partially mediated the effects of symptom distress. Religious support did not mediate symptom distress and was not directly related to quality of life. Conclusions: Social support from family members and friends helped to decrease the negative effects of symptoms on quality of life. This study underscores the need to continue to assess for symptom distress and adequacy of personal support throughout the cancer trajectory and to facilitate the garnering of support resources when needed.