Abstract
Objective: In this study, Objective was to assess the social support, quality of life and mental health status in breast cancer patients. Different literatures have highlighted the breast cancer's impact on mental health, quality of life, financial status etc., but very few studies have been done particularly in Nepal to assess impact of social support and quality of life on the mental health of a breast cancer patient. Methods: The design of the study was cross-sectional. The study was conducted from December 2015 to August 2016. A total of 149 patients diagnosed with breast cancer who met eligibility were enrolled. We included only patients who were reachable, diagnosed with breast cancer at least for 6 months and consented to participate in the study. They were interviewed using EORTC, mMOSS-SS and HADS questionnaires through telephone interview. Statistical analysis was carried out with SPSS (version 16). Results: For QOL, mean linear scores for the global health and functioning scale were 82.08 and 69.06 (on a scale of 0-100; higher the score, better the global health and physical function). For social support, mean linear score was 85.03 (on a scale of 0-100; higher the score, better the social support). For mental health, mean anxiety and depression score were 7.01 and 4.85 respectively (on a scale of 0-21, 8 being cut off for borderline and 11 being the cutoff for abnormal condition). Out of 149 respondents, 40.93% (61) were screened positive for depression either borderline or abnormal mood, whereas 52.34% (78) women were screened positive for anxiety either borderline or abnormal mood. Significantly less number of married woman currently living with husband had borderline plus abnormal mood. Similarly significantly higher number of woman living in nuclear family had depression. Global health scores of above mean, Social support scores of above mean and Anxiety scores of below mean had significant association with normal mood (p<0.05).