An exploratory study of social support: A cross-cultural comparison of Chinese-, Japanese-, and Anglo-American breast cancer patients

This paper investigated the nature of social support for Asian- and Anglo-A merican women post breast cancer treatment. Forty-six Anglo- and Asian-Amer ican (13 Anglo-American, 18 Chinese-American and 15 Japanese-American women ) women were assessed 6 months to 3 years post-treatment. Assessments consi sted of a semi-structured interview plus standardized psychological tests. Three major hypotheses were developed and tested in the study. Results show ed: (1) Anglo-American women indicated a greater need for social support th an either of the two Asian-American groups in 66% of the categories; (2) no differences were found between the three ethnic groups in receipt of emoti onal or tangible social support; and (3) the network size and composition d iffered significantly in 83% of the categories between the Angle group and at least one of the Asian groups. These differences were in size, mode, and perceived adequacy of social support. Implications for culturally-based cl inical practice which emerge from these findings are discussed. Copyright ( C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.