Association between aspects of social support and health-related quality of life domains among African American and White breast cancer survivors

Purpose: Social support is associated with breast cancer survivors’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL). More nuanced information is needed regarding aspects of social support associated with different HRQoL domains among diverse populations. We assessed the association between emotional/informational and tangible support and five HRQoL domains and evaluated race as an effect modifier. Methods: African American and White women (n = 545) diagnosed with hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer completed a survey that assessed sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial factors. We assessed bivariate relationships between emotional/informational and tangible support along with overall HRQoL and each HRQoL domain.We tested interactions between race and emotional/informational and tangible social support using linear regression. Results: The sample included African American (29%) and White (71%) breast cancer survivors. Emotional/informational social support had a statistically significant positive association with emotional well-being (β =.08, p = 0.005), social well-being (β = 0.36, p < 0.001), functional well-being (β =.22, p <.001), breast cancer concerns (β =.16, p = 0.002), and overall HRQoL (β =.83, p <.001). Similarly, tangible social support had a statistically significant positive association with emotional well-being (β =.14, p = 0.004), social well-being (β =.51, p <.001), functional well-being (β =.39, p <.001), and overall HRQoL (β = 1.27, p <.001). The interactions between race and social support were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Results underscore the importance of the different social support types among breast cancer survivors, regardless of survivors’ race. Implications for Cancer Survivors: Population-based interventions can be standardized and disseminated to provide guidance on how to increase emotional/information and tangible support for all breast cancer survivors by caregivers, health providers, and communities.