An exploratory study of social support: a cross-cultural comparison of Chinese-, Japanese-, and Anglo-American breast cancer patients
✍ Scribed by David Wellisch; Marjorie Kagawa-Singer; Suzanne Louise Reid; Yi-Jen Lin; Susan Nishikawa-Lee; Michele Wellisch
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 89 KB
- Volume
- 8
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1057-9249
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✦ Synopsis
This paper investigated the nature of social support for Asian-and Anglo-American women post breast cancer treatment. Forty-six Anglo-and Asian-American (13 Anglo-American, 18 Chinese-American and 15 Japanese-American women) women were assessed 6 months to 3 years post-treatment. Assessments consisted of a semi-structured interview plus standardized psychological tests. Three major hypotheses were developed and tested in the study. Results showed: (1) Anglo-American women indicated a greater need for social support than either of the two Asian-American groups in 66% of the categories; (2) no differences were found between the three ethnic groups in receipt of emotional or tangible social support; and (3) the network size and composition differed significantly in 83% of the categories between the Anglo group and at least one of the Asian groups. These differences were in size, mode, and perceived adequacy of social support. Implications for culturally-based clinical practice which emerge from these findings are discussed.