Abstract
Background: Quality of life is a multidimensional concept that includes perceptions of one's physical, psychological, social, and spiritual functioning, all of which are theorized to be interdependent. The focus of this study is social functioning, which itself is a multidimensional concept that includes social support and social constraint among other things. In cancer survivors, social support receives most of the research attention, but social constraint may have a stronger influence on quality of life. Purpose: This systematic literature review evaluates which aspect of social functioning - social support or social constraint - has a stronger relationship with the psychological functioning of cancer survivors. Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed in the identification and review of 32 independent records. Multiple measures of social support and social constraint were used across studies, with most having adequate psychometric properties. Psychological outcomes were divided into (a) general distress, (b) cancer-specific distress, (c) general well-being, and (d) cancer-specific well-being. Results: For general and cancer-specific distress, social constraint exhibited a larger association with distress than social support. Similarly, for general well-being, most studies reported a stronger association with social constraint than social support. For cancer-specific well-being, the opposite was true such that associations were stronger for social support than social constraint. Conclusions: Results highlight the importance of considering social constraint when examining quality-of-life outcomes like psychological distress and well-being. Findings support social constraint as a target in interventions to reduce cancer survivors' distress, while social support could be considered in attempts to promote cancer-specific well-being.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 176-192 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Annals of Behavioral Medicine |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 9 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the work of Spencer Acadia, PhD, who assisted with the search of electronic databases, Gabriella Puleo, MS, and Shannon Kelly who assisted with the coding and data extraction process, and Will Bowling who assisted in the evaluation of quality of the records included in this review. In addition, the authors would like to thank Catherine Mosher, PhD, Dennis Turk, PhD, Kathleen M. Ingram, PhD, Mariko Shiozaki, PhD, Michelle Bishop, PhD, Patrick Monahan, MD, PhD, Timothy Stump, MS, Victoria Champion, PhD, and Laura Porter, PhD, for responding to email requests for additional information about their studies. Funding: This research was supported by grant K07 CA181351 from the National Cancer Institute (J.L.B.) and grant UL1TR001998 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (REDCap). Its content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by grant K07 CA181351 from the National Cancer Institute (J.L.B.) and grant UL1TR001998 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (REDCap). Its content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Society of Behavioral Medicine. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Cancer
- Psychological functioning
- Social constraint
- Social support
- Systematic review
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychology (all)
- Psychiatry and Mental health
