Exploring the Barriers to Social Support Interactions: A Qualitative Study of Young Adult Cancer Patients and Young Adult Supporters

This study explores the reasons why young adults (ages 18-39) struggle to provide or avoid providing support to young adult cancer patients. The study also explores young adult cancer patients' perceptions of why they have not received support from individuals who did not provide support. A total of 722 reasons were collected through online surveys and analyzed: 438 were provided by young adults who knew a young adult with cancer (N = 131), and young adult cancer patients (N = 111) provided 284 reasons why they believe they did not receive support. Initially using a previous typology of 16 nonsupport reasons, an abductive thematic analysis yielded a total of 21 barriers to the provision of social support. These barriers were categorized across four higher-order categories: recipient-focused, supporter-focused, relationship-focused, and context-focused. Some reasons provided by young adult supporters were not provided by young adult patients and vice versa, suggesting the potential for discrepancies between why cancer patients believe they did not receive support and nonsupporters' actual reasons for not providing support. These various reasons why people struggled to provide support or avoided providing support can act as a list of barriers that future researchers and practitioners can address through the development of resources and interventions aimed at fostering adequate support provision throughout individuals' cancer experiences. Cancer patients can address the experience of nonsupport by individuals in their lives by being more direct in communicating their support desires and, when unsuccessful, using cognitive reappraisal strategies.

Automated summary

This study explores the reasons why young adults struggle to provide or avoid providing support to young adult cancer patients, as well as the perceptions of young adult cancer patients regarding the lack of support they receive. The study identifies 21 barriers to the provision of social support, categorized into recipient-focused, supporter-focused, relationship-focused, and context-focused factors. Additionally, cancer patients can address the lack of support by being more direct in expressing their support needs and employing cognitive reappraisal strategies.