Social Support as a Mediator Between Fear of Cancer Recurrence and Fertility Intention in Young Women With Breast Cancer

Purpose To examine the mediating role of social support in the relationship between fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) and fertility intention among reproductive-aged women with breast cancer. Methods This study employed a cross-sectional design, utilising convenience sampling to select 231 women of reproductive-aged diagnosed with breast cancer and treated at a tertiary hospital in Chongqing between December 2023 and June 2024 as research subjects.Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Fertility Intention Scale, the Social Support Rating Scale, and the Fear of Progression Questionnaire-Short Form (FoP-Q-SF).Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to examine the inter-variable correlations, followed by the construction of a structural equation model using AMOS 26 software, with bootstrap method applied to verify the mediation effects. Results Fertility intention was negatively correlated with FCR (r = -0.610, P < 0.001) and positively correlated with social support (r = 0.673, P < 0.001). Social support was also negatively correlated with FCR (r = -0.521, P < 0.001). Structural equation modeling revealed that social support partially mediated the relationship between FCR and fertility intention, accounting for 27.93% of the total effect. Conclusion Enhancing social support may help alleviate FCR and subsequently increase fertility intention among reproductive-aged women with breast cancer.