Social Support as Spiritual Capital of Chinese with Cancer: Towards a Holistic Approach

Abstract

As a highly stigmatized disease, the diagnosis of cancer inflicts much spiritual suffering in Chinese communities, and therefore, spiritual care is of pivotal importance in psycho-oncology. As a collectivist culture, Chinese people’s spirituality is closely associated with the degree of social support that one has; as such, social support is viewed as an important capital of spiritual peace in times of illness and adversities. However, existing research counter-intuitively suggested that coping with cancer via social support has been more prominent and effective in the West than it is in collectivist Chinese societies. The orthodox transactional view in understanding social support among Chinese people with cancers was found inadequate in analyzing the paradox. With reference to the teaching of the yin-yang perspective and Confucianism, as well as cases drawn from a study on spirituality with Chinese cancer patients, this chapter advocates a holistic approach to social support, of which is viewed as the interactions of the contrasting forces of the self, others, and culture values that are mutually interdependent in nature. Understanding of the dynamics and the intricate balance between these elements may broaden our knowledge on social support and how it enhances spiritual peace among Chinese people with cancer. These new understandings may also contribute to the development of contextually grounded, culturally relevant cancer care practices and policies in the future.