Perceived social support in male laryngectomized patients

Abstract

It is studied the level of perceived social support in a sample of male subjects operated for larynx cancer by conducting comparisons with a sample of healthy males and assessing the perception of the partners of both groups of men. The objectives are to assess the perceived social support by men operated for larynx cancer and establish the differences with respect to the perceived social support between the group of healthy males and that of the cancer patients. The sample consisted of 25 males operated for larynx cancer, 25 healthy males, 15 female partners of the males diagnosed with cancer and 15 female partners of the healthy males. To assess perceived social support, we used the ISEL of Cohen et al (1983). Our main finding was that laryngectomized males perceive informational support as the least accessible to them, while they perceive instrumental and emotional support the most. Between laryngectomized and healthy males we only found differences in relation to the perception of social support of an instrumental nature.