Social isolation, perceived social support, and type D personality among gastrointestinal cancer survivors in China: A mediating model analysis

Objective: To explore the mediating effect of social isolation between perceived social support and type D personality in gastrointestinal cancer survivors based on the WHITE heuristic cognitive-behavioral model of emotion cognition theory.

Methods: The study utilized a convenience sampling method to recruit 183 survivors of gastrointestinal cancer who were undergoing chemoradiotherapy. SPSS 26.0 was used to analyze the correlation among social isolation, perceived social support, and type D personality. Additionally, SmartPLS 3.0 was utilized to analyze the mediating role of social isolation in the relationships between perceived social support and type D personality.

Results: The study found that gastrointestinal cancer survivors scored 60.58 ​± ​10.94 for perceived social support, 36.25 ​± ​4.71 for social isolation, and 26.26 ​± ​5.84 for type D personality. We discovered that perceived social support has a negative correlation with social isolation and type D personality (r ​= ​-0.593, -0.396, both P ​< ​0.001), while social isolation was positively correlated with type D personality (r ​= ​0.564, P ​< ​0.001). The association between type D personality and perceived social support was partially mediated by social isolation (VAF ​= ​59.67%).

Conclusions: The association between type D personality and perceived social support is mediated by social isolation in gastrointestinal cancer survivors undergoing chemoradiotherapy. Clinical staff should prioritize evaluating social isolation among these survivors to enhance social support and potentially reduce the prevalence of type D personality traits.