Support system of health professionals as observed in the project of home care for the child with cancer

Crucial questions for health professionals include what constitutes social support, the sources of social support, and the parameters of social support. The preliminary findings from a research project that focused on the care of children dying of cancer indicate that these questions have concerned primary care nurses and physicians. Data acquired in personal interviews administered to 27 physicians and 32 nurses who participated in the first year of the Home Care for the Child with Cancer project provided descriptions of individual sources of social support. The results reveal a range of supportive mechanisms and networks within varied institutional contexts. While there were some within-group similarities in the forms of social support used by nurses and those used by physicians, numerous individual differences were evident. This is an area for extensive further study.