The prevalence of depressive symptomatology in persons suffering from cancer has been documented to varied degrees and may impact negatively on the course and outcome of cancer treatment. Our study set out to determine the psychosocial correlates of depression among patients with cancer attending an oncology clinic. The study participants were two hundred subjects receiving cancer care at the oncology clinic of a university teaching hospital. They were recruited into the study having met inclusion criteria and after informed consent was obtained. The participants were subjected to designed questionnaires to elicit their socio-demographics/clinical profile and the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale Revised (CES-DR) to characterise depressive symptomatology in them. Data was analysed using the Statistical package for social sciences, version 16.
Depressive symptomatology based on CES-DR score ≥16 was present in 49% of the participants. Among cancer subjects in this study, depressive symptomatology was significantly correlated with an individual’s marital status (Correlation co-efficient [r] = – 0.124, p-0.013), educational status (r = 0.102, p-0.041), social support (r= -0.128, p-0.011), stage of cancer (r= -0.323, p<0.01), family history of mental illness (r = 0.148, p – 0.003), presence of physical complications (r= 0.355, p-<0.01), and the presence of pain (r=0.277, p-<0.01). We found no significant relationship between depressive symptomatology and age, employment status, illness duration and a past history of psychiatric illness.
Conclusion
It is recommended that a holistic approach with full inclusion of mental health services be employed in the care of individuals with cancer.