social support as a mediator between resilience and quality of life in gastrointestinal cancer patients receiving chemotherapy

Aims: chemotherapy for gastrointestinal cancer can significantly impact patients’ quality of life. resilience plays a crucial role in overcoming these challenges. social support from family and friends can improve patients’ ability to cope with the impact of therapy. this study examined the mediating role of social support in the relationship between resilience and quality of life.instrument & methods: this descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 275 gastrointestinal cancer patients in three iraqi governorates using a purposive sampling method, from october 2024 to april 2025. data were collected using a demographic and clinical characteristics questionnaire, the connor-davidson resilience scale, the european organization for research and treatment of cancer quality of life, and the multidimensional scale of perceived social support. statistical methods were applied for coding and analyzing the data, and the hayes macro test was employed to test the mediating role.findings: the mean resilience score was 22.84, reflecting a generally low level of psychological resilience. the mean perceived social support score was 44.62, indicating that more than half of the participants had a high level of perceived social support. the mean general quality of life score was 47.4331, reflecting a relatively poor ability to adapt to health conditions. the total effect of resilience on quality of life was 0.7227, the direct effect value was 0.4031, and the indirect effect via social support was 0.3196. social support could partially mediate the relationship between resilience and quality of life.conclusion: social support mediates the relationship between psychological resilience and quality of life.