Social Support and Health-Related Quality of Life Among Gay and Bisexual Men With Prostate Cancer.
Benjamin D Capistrant, Lindsey Lesher, Nidhi Kohli and 5 others
PMID 29947351WHAT IT FOUND
Gay and bisexual men with prostate cancer who had low social support or wanted more support reported significantly worse quality of life, particularly in mental and hormonal health.
However, because this was a cross-sectional survey, it shows an association, not that low support caused these outcomes.
Key findings
01Men with low general social support had, on average, 11.63 points lower hormonal quality of life and 8.63 points lower mental quality of life compared to those with moderate or high support.
02For every additional type of social support a man wanted, he reported, on average, 1.86 points lower hormonal quality of life and 1.13 points lower general mental quality of life.
03Men who received more types of prostate cancer-specific social support had slightly higher hormonal quality of life, with each additional type associated with 2.17 points higher on average.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study design is cross-sectional, so it can only show associations between social support and quality of life, not cause and effect. The sample was a convenience sample of mostly White, educated men recruited from an online support group, limiting generalizability. The measures for prostate cancer-specific support were newly developed and had not been tested for reliability or validity. Data were self-reported, including PSA levels and time since diagnosis, which introduces potential recall bias. Residual confounding may exist from variables not measured or adjusted for in the models.
Declared interests
The study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). No other conflicts of interest are explicitly declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that increasing social support will directly improve quality of life for these patients. This study shows an association, but because it is cross-sectional, it cannot prove that low support causes poor quality of life or that interventions will reverse it.