Interactive patterns of social support and individual coping strategies inmelanoma patients and their correlations with adjustment to illness

Combined patterns of social support and coping style and correlations with adjustment to cancer were investigated in early-stage melanoma patients. Th e authors studied 358 consecutive patients attending regular follow-up who answered standardized instruments that assess social support, coping behavi or; and tumor-related distress. Regression analyses identified high active and low depressive coping behavior as stronger predictors for perceived sup port than sociodemographic and clinical variables. Cluster analyses yielded four coping-support patterns. High social support, combined either with ac tive coping or with stoicism, was associated with good adjustment whereas l ow perceived support in the subjects living alone or in the patients exhibi ting depressive coping behavior was associated with poor adjustment.