Depression among Cancer Patients: Risk Factors and Coping Mechanism

Authors

  • Aaqib Shahzad Alvi
  • Ibad Ullah Sajid
  • Muhammad Ashraf
  • Muhammad Ali Tarar
  • Hira Bilal

Abstract

Objective: To gauge the prevalence of depression and; identify the potential risk factors as well as coping strategies among cancer patients.

Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted during from March-2018 to November-2018 at Clinical Oncology Department, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology Lahore (INMOL) Lahore. The purposive sampling technique was used and interviewed 118 sampled cancer patients. Interview schedule, depression Scale and coping scales were used as instrument to collect data. Depression items, age, economic status, family support, duration of cancer, stage of cancer and coping strategies were the variables of the study.

Results: The results of the study indicated that 16% respondents had low level of depression, 72% medium while 12% had high level of depression. In case of coping mechanism, majority of respondents adopted cognitive restriction, emotional expression, information seeking, self-blame, Wish Fulfilling Fantasy, and threat minimization as coping styles. All the predictor variables including age, economic status, family support, and duration of cancer were found significantly associated with depression. The results of correlation analysis indicated a negative association between depression and coping strategies.

Conclusion: Considering the diverse effect of depression and repeated use of various coping strategies, comprehensive steps are needed to screening and counseling of cancer patients that will be effective for their mental wellbeing.

Downloads

Published

11-04-2022

How to Cite

1.
Alvi AS, Sajid IU, Ashraf M, Tarar MA, Bilal H. Depression among Cancer Patients: Risk Factors and Coping Mechanism. J Liaq Uni Med Health Sci [Internet]. 2022 Apr. 11 [cited 2024 Dec. 22];21(01):27-32. Available from: http://ojs.lumhs.edu.pk/index.php/jlumhs/article/view/430

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 01 (2022): Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences

Section

Original Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Submission of a manuscript to the journal implies that all authors have read and agreed to the content of the undertaking form or the Terms and Conditions.

When an article is accepted for publication, the author(s) retain the copyright and are required to grant the publisher the right of first publication and other non-exclusive publishing rights to JLUMHS.

Articles published in the Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & health sciences are open access articles under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial - Share Alike 4.0 License. This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium; provided the original work is properly cited and initial publication in this journal. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. In addition to that users are allowed to remix, tweak and build upon the work non-commercially as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. Or, in certain cases it can be stated that all articles and content there in are published under creative commons license unless stated otherwise.