2026/04/01 by Elena García-Alonso, Silvia Ubillos-Landa, Guillermo Crespo Herrero · 1 voice
Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cancer survivorship and care #Family Support in Illness #Mental Health via Writing
paper · doi:10.1016/j.soncn.2026.152241
openalex publication_date 2026/04/01 · openalex created_date 2026/04/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/18
BACKGROUND: Emotional support (ES) is central to cancer care, yet its associations with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and psychological outcomes remain inconsistent. A key source of heterogeneity may be the frequent conflation of ES seeking (ESS) and ES receipt (ESR), which represent distinct psychosocial processes. OBJECTIVES: (1) Identify sociodemographic and clinical correlates of ESS and ESR; (2) examine associations of ESS, ESR, and their equilibrium (ES-Eq = ESR - ESS) with coping and psychological adjustment; (3) assess their relationships with HRQoL and distress; (4) compare outcomes across three ES-Eq profiles (seek > receive, balanced, receive > seek); and (5) test whether ESS, ESR, and ES-Eq are independently associated with HRQoL after covariate adjustment. METHODS: Cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary oncology day unit (Spain). Adult cancer outpatients (N = 360; mean age = 63.4 years; 54.2% women) completed EORTC QLQ-C30, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Mini-MAC, and Brief-COPE. ESS and ESR were assessed using separate Brief-COPE items. Analyses included nonparametric tests, Spearman correlations, ES-Eq profile comparisons, and hierarchical regressions. RESULTS: ESR exceeded ESS. Higher ESS was associated with poorer functioning, greater symptom burden, and distress. ESR and positive ES-Eq were related to better HRQoL, lower anxiety/depression, and more adaptive coping/adjustment. Patients with ES-Eq > 0 showed favorable profiles. In adjusted regressions, ESR and ES-Eq were independently associated with higher HRQoL. CONCLUSIONS: ES is not a unitary construct. Distinguishing ESS from ESR and evaluating their equilibrium clarifies heterogeneous findings and identifies clinically meaningful vulnerability/protection profiles. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Routine assessment of ESS, ESR, and ES-Eq may detect unmet psychosocial needs and guide patient-centered supportive care.