RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL SUPPORT AND THE NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF PATIENTS RECEIVING RADIATION THERAPY FOR CANCER.
Contributors: University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 184
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.
Description: The purpose of this descriptive, correlational study was to ascertain if there is a relationship between social support and the nutritional status of patients receiving radiation therapy for cancer. The conceptual framework for the study was derived from Orem's self-care model of nursing (1980), Kahn's (1979) and Barnes' (1972) definitions of social support, and concepts relating to malnutrition. The data collection instruments used included the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ), the Personal Characteristics Form, the Abbreviated Health History, the Flow Sheet for Nutritional Data, and the Interview Schedule. For the analysis of data descriptive statistics were utilized to provide a profile of subjects, and correlational statistics were used to ascertain if there were relationships among the indicators of nutritional status and the social support variables.

A convenience sample was comprised of 50 cancer patients deemed curable by radiation therapy. Findings included significant decreases in anthropometric measurements and biochemical tests during therapy. Serial assessments of nutritional status, therefore, are recommended for all cancer patients during therapy in order to plan and implement strategies for meeting the self-care requisites for food and water. No statistically significant relationships were found between the social support variables as measured by the NSSQ and the indicators of nutritional status. Subjects who had nutritional confidants, however, had significantly less protein-calorie malnutrition than subjects who had no nutritional confidants. This suggests that nurses can assist patients by fostering support from actual and potential nutritional confidants.

Further research should be directed toward replications of the study with more precise research designs in order to be able to generalize results. Data collection should extend beyond the completion of patients' therapy in order to document the relationship between the social support and long-term nutritional consequences of irradiation. Social support should be measured with an instrument developed to assess the type and amount of social interactions which cancer patients perceive as supportive and which are associated with fewer self-care deficits related to the universal self-care requisites of food and water.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-08, Section: B, page: 2626.

Thesis (D.S.N.)--UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM, 1985.

School code: 0005.