Author: Cyrine Sanura
The study aimed to identify the psychological solidity and social support among lung cancer patients in Northern Provinces of Palestine with specific reference to gender, age, place of residency, educational level, years of infection, and marital status. The literature was reviewed from a multi-dimensional phenomenon perspective which addressed both theoretical and applied research.
In achieving this, a 58-item questionnaire was formulated. The questionnaire was divided into three sub-scales as follows: the general information of the participants; the psychological solidity; and the social support scale. The purposive method was utilized which comprised of a sample size of 350 lung cancer patients in the Northern Provinces of Palestine. The collected data was statistically analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).
The findings revealed that lung cancer patients experienced a moderate level of psychological solidity and a high level of social support. The mean scores were 3.41 and 4.16, respectively. The results of the study revealed significant statistical differences in psychological solidity among the participants due to age, marital status, and educational level. However, the findings revealed significant statistical differences in social support among the participants only due to marital status. Also, the findings revealed a positive correlation between psychological solidity and social support among lung cancer patients.
In the light of the current study and its discussions, the following was recommended: the need for designing outreach programs to enhance psychological solidity and social support for cancer patients in Palestine, and the provision of psychosocial care for cancer patients, particularly lung cancer patients. Moreover, building and providing guidance and educational programs is used to guide cancer patients as well as in teaching them on how to deal with the effects of the disease and its treatment which positively affects their psychological solidity. Further studies are essential to develop an understanding of psychological solidity and social support, and its measurable impact on personal aspects of cancer patients using the case study and qualitative research design.
Keywords: Psychological solidity, social support, lung cancer patients.
Cyrine Sanura, MA. Counseling Psychology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Al-Quds University, Main Campus, Jerusalem - Abu Dies, Palestine. Independent Researcher, Tulkarem, Palestine. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
