Social support is the emotional support, practical help, advice and other benefits you get from interactions with your co-survivors. Co-survivors may include:
- Family members
- Friends
- Spiritual advisors
- Co-workers and supervisors
- Health care providers
- Other people living with cancer
Social support from co-survivors
Co-survivors give support in many different ways. For example, an oncologist provides information, hope and advice about treatment options. Friends and family may give practical help, like offering rides to and from treatments or helping with cleaning, cooking, grocery shopping, child care and looking up information on the Internet. Your boss may even help you find ways to balance your job and treatment schedule.
Your co-survivors may also give emotional support that can help boost your sense of self-worth and help you feel loved, cared for and understood. Social support may be as informal as a sympathetic ear of a close friend, or as formal as a survivors' support group or going to see a therapist.
Learn more about being a co-survivor.
Updated 07/22/11
