Effectiveness of social support groups on the quality of life among female cancer survivors An interventional study.

Diagnosis of cancer is one of the most stressful events that happens in ones lifetime. This often leads to longterm psychosocial effects. Stress is a common factor among cancer survivors. Anxiety and depression in cancer patients are mainly due to stress. The support group role is important in managing the disability, anxiety, pain, and financial burden of a person. It ultimately reflects on cancer survivors various domains of quality of life. It has been proven that active social support and social interaction can improve quality of life in all domains. When they are socially active and can share their feelings, fears, and worries, it helps them mentally relieve themselves. It can also have a positive impact on their physical health. Survivors, when they lack social contacts, are affected in their well being and health. Factors such as lack of socialization, social isolation, and loneliness are important predictors of increased mortality. Social support can improve their quality of life. Creating a social support group and giving them the interventions to improve their quality of life could be a great opportunity. Assessing their quality of life before the support group intervention and after intervention has proved a significant improvement in physical health, mental health, and social functioning. This can be summarised as improved quality of life among cancer survivors. Providing simple interventions like sharing the experience of cancer, coping strategies, treatment, and the healing process, facing societal stigma could help in the improvement of the quality of life of cancer survivors. Hence the improved quality of life among female cancer survivors will the major goal of the study.

·        Female Cancer survivors who completed 6 months of treatment, up to 24 months after diagnosis, regardless of stage and type of therapy, female Cancer survivors who give consent to participate are included in the study and Female Cancer survivors who are immobile and bedridden, Cancer survivors diagnosed with cognitive and neurological impairments are excluded. The study will be conducted for a year at  tertiary care hospitals in Mysuru.

Null hypothesis: There is no significant improvement in the quality of life of cancer survivors after the social support group intervention. Alternative hypothesis: There is a significant improvement in the quality of life of cancer survivors after the social support group intervention.

Matching will be performed for each case based on gender, age, and stage of cancer to minimise control bias. Interventions will be given through structured group sessions, with three to four sessions conducted for each group over a period of three months. The first sessions will be an introduction to survivors, followed by an ice-breaking session with activities that include passing a thread, telling a one-word story, and if I could tell someone newly diagnosed, I would rather. After these activities, the survivors will be asked about their problems, and an awareness session will be given on treatment facilities, facilitation services, and available government schemes. We will teach them about the photovoice technique in the same session. Ice-breaking and networking will help build trust among cancer survivors. Survivors will be encouraged to share their experiences and coping mechanisms during the second session, like the strength behind my smile, light in the tunnel, meaning in a memory, timeline walk, open mic/story circle, peer interviews, and survivors’ bingo. The third session will be on sexual health, and the purpose of the life and gratitude chain activity will be discussed. After all the interventions, their quality of life will be assessed, and a pre-post comparison will be done to analyse the effectiveness of the intervention among survivors. After the interventions, once the effect is proven, the quality of life of the cancer survivors is improved from a mean score of 40 to above 60. The same interventions will be given to the control group.