Today we have chosen to write a brief abstract of Juliane’s research project (Lamelot-Pelard et al., 2021) which deals with the effects of the following of breast cancer patients by a patient-partner. We chose this topic because it is a common disease as about 1/9 of women will have to face breast cancer in her life. Women with breast cancer frequently experience emotional distress after diagnosis which tends to persist after treatments (Kagee et al., 2017). They also express new needs, such as the need for social support (Zøylner et al., 2019). Social support feeds the individual’s feeling that when facing difficult situations, he will have the resources to get through them, alone or with the help of others (Sarason et al., 1990). There are four main dimensions to social support (Usta, 2012) : emotional support, esteem support, instrumental or material support and informative support. Some authors add to these four dimensions, negative social support (Segrestan-Crouzet, 2010). In order to support patients during their treatments and afterwards, means are being set up such as the accompaniment by a patient-partner (Chauvin, 2017). A breast cancer patient-partner is a woman who has been affected by the disease and has developed knowledge that she puts at the disposal of other patients. Peers, by having gone through the same process of care or by being sick themselves, can bring particular knowledge to patients : experiential knowledge (Pomey et al., 2015). The notion of patient-partner has been developed in the Montreal Model, a theoretical model in which the patient’s opinion is recognized for his experiential knowledge of the disease (Pomey et al., 2015). He or she will be considered a member of the health care team and thus, as someone legitimate in taking decisions about his or her care. According to this model, the patient’s experience must be recognized because it is useful.
Thus, it raises questions about the benefits in the field of cancer of such innovative support as social support is related to breast cancer patients’ emotional distress (Syrowatka et al., 2017).
The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the effect of patient-partner support on emotional distress and perceived social support in breast cancer patients. In order to do this, 252 breast cancer patients completed a questionnaire. The independent variable is the patient-partner support and two modalities are resulting from this variable : having been accompanied by the patient-partner from L’Institut du Sein Aquitaine (LISA) and not having benefited from this accompaniment. The dependent variable is perceived social support and emotional distress.
So far, the first results indicate that the support from a patient-partner has an effect on each dimension of social support. More precisely, women with breast cancer followed by the patient-partner express more emotional support than other patients. Thus, peer support reduces patients’ social support unmet needs. Conversely, the support from a patient-partner has no significant effect on emotional distress. This highlights that peer support has an effect on patients’ psychological adaptation mechanisms to the disease (such as social support) but not directly on their emotional condition.
To go further, it would be interesting to study the impact of peer support from a patient-partner on other psychological variables such as post-traumatic growth. Also, a longitudinal approach could provide more accurate results.
Words we have learned :
Breast cancer : cancer du sein
Emotional distress : détresse émotionnelle
Patient-partner : patiente-partenaire
Psychological adaptation mechanisms to the disease : Les mécanismes psychologiques d’adaptation à la maladie
Post-traumatic growth : croissance post-traumatique
Chauvin, M. (2017). “Devenir patient-expert” : action ou fatalité ? Douleur et Analgésie, 30(3), 163–165. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11724-017-0513-4
Kagee, A., Roomaney, R., & Knoll, N. (2017). Psychosocial predictors of distress and depression among South African breast cancer patients. Psycho-Oncology, 27(3), 908–914. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.4589
Lamelot-Pelard, J., Le Borgne, M., Rapicault, C., Pietri Ibrahim, C., Dutheil, S., Franck, H., & Porro, B. (18 novembre 2021). L’accompagnement par une patiente partenaire pour des femmes diagnostiquées d’un cancer du sein: quelles répercussions psychologiques ? Une étude mixte réalisée au sein de l’association LISA. [Conférence]. 17èmes Journées du Cancéropôle Grand Sud-Ouest 2021, Carcassonne, France. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356374904_L’accompagnement_par_une_patiente_partenaire_pour_des_femmes_diagnostiquees_d’un_cancer_du_sein_quelles_repercussions_psychologiques_Une_etude_mixte_realisee_au_sein_de_l’association_LISA/citations#fullTextFileContent
Pomey, M., Flora, L., Karazivan, P., Dumez, V., Lebel, P., Vanier, M., & Jouet, E. (2015). Le « Montreal model » : enjeux du partenariat relationnel entre patients et professionnels de la santé. Santé Publique, 27(1), 41–50. https://doi-org/10.3917/spub.150.0041
Sarason, I. G., Sarason, B. R., & Pierce, G. R. (1990). Social support : The search for theory. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9(1), 133–147. https://doi-org/10.1521/jscp.1990.9.1.133
Segrestan-Crouzet, C. (2010). Évolution et différences dans l’ajustement des couples au cancer du sein: rôle des facteurs psychosociaux et influence réciproque des deux membres de la dyade. [Thèse de doctorat, Université de Bordeaux 2]. http://www.theses.fr/2010BOR21729
Syrowatka, A., Motulsky, A., Kurteva, S., Hanley, J. A., Dixon, W. G., Meguerditchian, A. N., & Tamblyn, R. (2017). Predictors of distress in female breast cancer survivors: a systematic review. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 165(2), 229–245. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-017-4290-9
Usta, Y. Y. (2012). Importance of social support in cancer patients. Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP, 13(8), 3569–3572. https://doi.org/10.7314/apjcp.2012.13.8.3569
Zøylner, I. A., Lomborg, K., Christiansen, P. M., & Kirkegaard, P. (2019). Surgical breast cancer patient pathway: Experiences of patients and relatives and their unmet needs. Health expectations, 22(2), 262–272. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12869