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Assignment 2 Health Psychology (master Health Sciences, VU)
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Assignment 2 for the course Health Psychology from the master Health Sciences at the VU.
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Assignment 2 – Esmee DriehuisIntroduction of the patient
Sophia Sleeman told her story about getting cancer at a young age. It has been 10 years since she
had cancer, but she is still dealing with the effects of the disease and its treatment. At 17-years old
she got a traumatic brain injury (TBI) when she fell off her horse. When she was in
neurorehabilitation for her TBI, she found a lump in her neck. After a long period of time with no
definitive diagnosis, she eventually got diagnosed at 18-years old with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Being diagnosed at 18-years old makes her an ‘AYA’, which stands for ‘Adolescent & Young Adults
with cancer’. In this age group it is quite rare to see peers with cancer, because not a lot of people in
this age group get cancer. She now works for the AYA care network to ensure that this patient group
gets to care and support that they need, because this patient group has different needs and decisions
to make than older cancer patients.
Overview of the theory and application of the theory to the patient
Social support refers to a social network’s provision of psychological and material resources intended
to benefit an individual’s ability to cope with stress (Cohen, 2004). There are four different types of
social support, namely emotional, instrumental, informational and appraisal support (Langford et al.,
1997).
Emotional support includes providing care, empathy, love and trust (Cohen, 2004). Studies by
House (1981) and Gottlieb (1978) report that emotional support is the most important kind of social
support. An example of emotional support that Sophia received was from other AYA’s through the
AYA care network. She told it was nice to meet peers who went through the same events and
struggles of having cancer and treatment, so they could support each other and relate to each other.
This refers to actual received support, the help provided within a given time period. At first she did
not know whether going to AYA meetings would be helpful, but eventually she received a lot of
actual support from these peers.
In contrast, some relationships with friends got damaged or even vanished because these
friends did not understand what she was going through. They did not care for her and express
empathy as she might have expected before she got cancer. So her friends and family might not have
provided the emotional support that she might have perceived beforehand. This refers to perceived
available support, which means the anticipated, or expected, help in time of need (Vangelisti, 2009).
Her friends and family did not all provide the support that she had expected them to, so the
perceived available support is less than expected. She also mentioned that friends and family often
provided unsolicited advice, which was not helpful. A quote from Sophia about this is: “Don’t try to
fix me, just accept me for who I am right now”. This refers to harmful social support. Research by
Smith & Goodnow (1999) showed that unasked-for support and unsolicited advice are often more
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