The Relationship Between Facilitation of Patient Involvement and Self-Perceived Burden in Postoperative Lung Cancer Patients: The Mediating Role of Social Support

Na Ren,&ast; Fengyan Ma,&ast; Mengbai Tian, Guochao Zhang, Qi Xing, Xu Zheng, Wei Wu, Yimin Qi, Mingyu Wang, Liang Zhao Department of Thoracic Surgery, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Liang Zhao, Department of Thoracic Surgery, National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100021, People’s Republic of China, Email drzhaoliang@126.comAim: Patients with lung cancer often experience a high level of self-perceived burden, which significantly affects their quality of life and psychological health. Social support is closely related to the self-perceived burden, yet there is scant research on the relationship between social support, facilitation of patient involvement, and self-perceived burden. This study aims to understand the current situation of self-perceived burden in postoperative lung cancer patients and to explore the mediating role of social support between facilitation of patient involvement and self-perceived burden.Methods: A cross-sectional design was used in this study. Using a convenience sampling method, a total of 331 lung cancer patients who were hospitalized for surgical treatment at a tertiary cancer hospital in Beijing, China, from August 2022 to May 2023, were selected to participate in this survey. The survey included a self-designed sociodemographic questionnaire, the Facilitation of Patient Involvement Scale (FPIS), the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), and the Self-Perceived Burden Scale (SPBS). Data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 for statistical description and Pearson correlation analysis, while AMOS 24.0 was utilized to construct a structural equation model to examine the mediation effect.Results: The score of self-perceived burden in lung cancer patients was 26.42 ± 8.23 points. Bot facilitation of patient involvement and social support was negatively correlated with self-perceived burden (r = − 0.313, r = − 0.332, P < 0.001). Social support plays a partially mediated role in the relationship between facilitation of patient involvement and self-perceived burden, accounting for 44.3% of the total effect.Conclusion: The self-perceived burden of patients after lung cancer surgery was at a moderate level, and social support partially mediates the relationship between facilitation of patient involvement and self-perceived burden. Medical staff should encourage patient participation in their own treatment decisions and alleviate the burden associated with lung cancer and surgical treatment by enhancing their social support.Keywords: facilitation of patient involvement, self-perceived burden, social support, mediation analysis, lung cancer