Objective: The study aims to analyze the level of perceived social support and hope of cancer patients and their families.
Patients and Methods: The study was conducted with cancer patients (n: 69) and their relatives (n: 69). Data were collected via “Patient Identification Form”, “Beck Hopelessness Scale”, “Patient Social Support Form”, and “Family Social Support Form” and were analyzed on SPSS (Statistical Programme for Social Science) 19 for Windows package program with percentage, arithmetic average, standard deviation, Mann-Whitney-U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Spearman-Brown correlation analysis.
Results: The average age of the participants was 56.41±11.65. The average period following the cancer diagnosis was 25.67±34.02 months. The average score for patients’ social support was 140.28±17.26 and the average score for social support that the families think they provide was 124.97±15.19. The average score of patients for hopelessness was 3.78±3.70 and for their relatives was 3.41±3.21.
Conclusions: No significant correlation was found between the perceived social support of cancer patients from their relatives and the social support the relatives think they provide for the patients. Cancer patients’ perceived social support from their relatives is higher than what the relatives think they provide for the patients. The patients and relatives had very high levels of hope; however, no significant correlation was found.