Social support and adjustment to cancer: Reconciling descriptive, correlational, and intervention research.

Several research literatures are reviewed that address the associations ofemotional, informational, and instrumental social support to psychological djustment tocancer. Descriptive studies uggest that emotional support is most desired by patients, and correlational studies uggest that emotional support has the strongest associations with better adjustment. However, theevidence for the effectiveness of peer discussion groups aimed at providing emotional support is less than convincing. Moreover, ducational groups aimed at providing informational support appear to be as effective as, if not more effective than, peer discussions. Reasons for inconsistencies between the correlational nd intervention literatures are discussed, and future directions are outlined.