Social support, stress, and age in women undergoing breast biopsies

The relationship among stress, age, and social support was explored in 30 women scheduled for a breast biopsy. Stress was determined using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Social support strength and network size were measured using the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire in this correlational study. Findings demonstrated that women do experience stress before their biopsies. Stress was also found to have a negative correlation with social support strength. Moreover, although statistically insignificant, these women tended to have increased stress with aging until age 40, then stress decreased with increasing age. Additional research should replicate the natural age division of < or = 40 years and > 40 years in a larger sample of women. Advanced practitioners are ideally suited to affect patient outcomes by providing social support. This social support could consist of facilitated support groups or access to the information needed by women during this stressful diagnostic experience.