Study on the mechanism of improving mental health of cancer patients under the synergy of medical social work and social welfare security

Cancer is a major chronic disease that not only poses a serious threat to the physical health of patients, but also significantly affects their psychological state and social adaptability. In the face of the dual pressures imposed by both physical and mental challenges, the role of social support systems in psychosocial intervention has garnered increasing attention. This study adopts a dual focus on medical social work and social welfare protection to explore their synergistic effects in psychological interventions for cancer patients. Employing a mixed-methods research design, the study integrates comparative psychological scale assessments with 40 in-depth interviews to systematically analyze the impact pathways of social welfare and medical social work in areas such as emotional regulation, self-efficacy restoration, and the reconstruction of social functioning. Quantitative findings indicate that patients who receive both social welfare support and medical social work services experience the most significant improvements in perceived stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression, with the combined intervention yielding greater effectiveness than either approach alone. The qualitative analysis, conducted through NVivo-based thematic extraction, identifies five core themes: the psychological buffering function of welfare policies, the humanistic care provided by social workers, challenges in family caregiving, disparities in resource accessibility, and post-intervention functional recovery. These findings further illuminate the interconnected mechanisms by which institutional policies and professional services contribute to psychosocial support. Based on these results, the study constructs a comprehensive intervention model centered on the integration of social welfare and medical social services, thereby enriching the localized application of social support theory. It concludes that the coordinated development of institutional support and service-based interventions is essential for advancing the psychological rehabilitation and social reintegration of individuals living with cancer.