Although the highest proportion of cancer patients are over 55 years,
the psychosocial aspects of cancer in this age group has received litt
le systematic attention. Many older patients who report psychological
distress, especially depressive symptoms, also report a perception of
inadequate social support. The primary aim of this study was to examin
e the relationship between perceived adequacy of social support and de
pression in a group of older patients with metastatic cancer. The asso
ciation of social support network variables (e.g. number in household,
etc.) with depression was also evaluated. A second study aim was to e
valuate the reliability and validity of a measure of social support ad
equacy, that had been originally developed with college students, for
its usefulness with a cancer population. The measure of perceived adeq
uacy of social support used in this study was found to be a reliable a
nd valid measure with older cancer patients. Total perceived adequacy
and each of three subtypes (significant other, family and friends) wer
e significantly associated with lower levels of depression. In a multi
ple regression procedure, both perceived adequacy and network characte
ristics were significantly associated with less depression. These find
ings suggest that older cancer patients who are depressed may be good
candidates for psychosocial interventions aimed at improving social su
pport and subsequently quality of life.