Moderated mediating effects of perceived loneliness and economic burden between social support and mental health for lung cancer patients.
To explore the moderated mediating effect involving perceived loneliness and economic burden in the association between social support and mental health among lung cancer patients.
A total of 614 valid questionnaires were collected from December 2023 to February 2024 using convenience sampling. Social support was assessed with the Social Support Rating Scale, mental health with the General Health Questionnaire, and perceived loneliness with the Cancer Loneliness Scale. Theoretical hypotheses were tested using moderated mediation analysis.
More than half of participants were female (65.8%), and half of them were aged between 40 and 60 (53.7%). The majority had been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma (94.1%) and were classified as having stage I lung cancer (85.8%). A quarter (24.6%) of participants reported a high level of economic burden. Perceived loneliness partially mediated the relationship between social support and mental health. Economic burden moderated the relationship between perceived loneliness and mental health. For objective support, perceived loneliness served as a mediator among high-burden participants. For support utilization, perceived loneliness served as a mediator among low-burden participants. In terms of subjective support, perceived loneliness exerted a mediating effect among all patients.
Providing social support may improve mental health outcomes by alleviating feelings of loneliness among lung cancer patients. Intervention strategies should be tailored to patients' economic burden: providing supportive resources such as financial assistance, psychoeducation programs, and social activities for patients with high economic burden, while promoting resource utilization such as patient navigation programs for those with lower economic burden.
A total of 614 valid questionnaires were collected from December 2023 to February 2024 using convenience sampling. Social support was assessed with the Social Support Rating Scale, mental health with the General Health Questionnaire, and perceived loneliness with the Cancer Loneliness Scale. Theoretical hypotheses were tested using moderated mediation analysis.
More than half of participants were female (65.8%), and half of them were aged between 40 and 60 (53.7%). The majority had been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma (94.1%) and were classified as having stage I lung cancer (85.8%). A quarter (24.6%) of participants reported a high level of economic burden. Perceived loneliness partially mediated the relationship between social support and mental health. Economic burden moderated the relationship between perceived loneliness and mental health. For objective support, perceived loneliness served as a mediator among high-burden participants. For support utilization, perceived loneliness served as a mediator among low-burden participants. In terms of subjective support, perceived loneliness exerted a mediating effect among all patients.
Providing social support may improve mental health outcomes by alleviating feelings of loneliness among lung cancer patients. Intervention strategies should be tailored to patients' economic burden: providing supportive resources such as financial assistance, psychoeducation programs, and social activities for patients with high economic burden, while promoting resource utilization such as patient navigation programs for those with lower economic burden.