How social support affects psychological well-being in colorectal cancer ostomates: A moderated mediating effect model

The present study aims to explore the influence of social support on the psychological well-being (PWB) of colorectal cancer (CRC) ostomates. It specifically examines how depression mediates the relationship between social support and PWB and explores if body image disturbances moderate this process. This study utilized convenience sampling to conduct a questionnaire survey on 319 CRC ostomates, employing the perceived social support scale, body image self-rating scale, depression self-rating scale and PWB scale. The results showed that the total scores of social support, body image disturbance, depression and PWB were 63.596 ± 12.081, 32.423 ± 17.057, 57.477 ± 14.867 and 69.828 ± 17.331, respectively. Social support had a positive impact on PWB (B = 0.790, t = 11.703, p < 0.01). Depression had a mediating effect of 0.078 between social support and PWB, accounting for 9.0% of the total effect. The direct predictive effect of social support on PWB and the mediating effect of depression between the two were both moderated by body image disturbance (p < 0.01). This study highlights the mediating role of depression in the relationship between social support and PWB and the moderating role of body image disturbance in CRC ostomates, indicating that enhancing social support can further improve PWB by reducing depressive symptoms, while improving body image disturbance can help heighten the patient’s overall PWB.