Social wellbeing in older breast cancer survivors taking adjuvant endocrine therapy: impacts of self-efficacy for symptom management and pain

Introduction For older breast cancer survivors taking adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET), side effects are common and significantly impact quality of life. Self-efficacy is an important protective factor in this population, but little is known about its relationship to pain interference and social wellbeing. This study examined the relative contributions of self-efficacy for managing symptoms (SEMS) to objective and subjective pain interference and social wellbeing. Methods Fifty-one women aged ≥65 taking AET for breast cancer completed measures at the time of routine medical follow-up. The measures assessed SEMS, pain intensity, pain interference (subjective report and objective measurement, i.e., the timedup and go test), and social wellbeing. Results Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that SEMS was significantly associated with social wellbeing, over and above pain-related variables. When examining pain interference as a subjective measure, pain interference was initially associated with social wellbeing ( p = 0.001), but was no longer significant ( p = 0.443) when SEMS ( p 0.001) was added into the model. When examining pain interference via objective measure, only SEMS was significantly associated ( p 0.001) with subjective and objective measures of pain interference and social wellbeing, over and above other factors. Discussion Results highlight the importance of SEMS as a pathway to preserve social wellbeing and potentially minimize loneliness in older breast cancer survivors. Interventions which prioritize SEMS and address social wellbeing may also have downstream impacts on AET adherence, recurrence rates, and quality of life.