|
The purpose of this study was to understand the level of depression of children suffering from cancer. The depression was compared with a group of children that were hospitalized due to other disorders and another group of school children that were healthy. The subjects of this study were 30 children who were diagnosed with cancer and were being treated at St. Mary’s Hospital. This group of children were compared with a control group of 40 children who were hospitalized in the same hospital for non-cancer diseases and another control group of 200 children with a healthy status. Level of children depression in each group was measured with CDI and was compared to each other groups using ANOVA and Duncan test. To examine the relationship between depression and other variables. correlation coefficients were tested and stepwise multiple regression was used to point out the main cause which had effects on the level of depression. Cronbach’s a of CDI in this study was 0.91. The results u·ere as follows: 1. Children with cancer had a depression score of 44.5 which was lower than the control group of healthy school children which scored 49.0 and higher than the non-cancer hospitalized children group scoring 44.2 (F=3.38. P=0.036). 2. Depression level of children with cancer were shown higher as the self-esteem level was lower(r=-0.60, p=0.001). Also, suffice understanding between the children’s mother resulted in a lower level of depression(r=-0.57, p=0.001). Level of depression proved a positive correlation with the level of anxiety((r=0.56, p=0.002). 3. The major variables influencing the depression of children with cancer were anxiety which had an explanation of 27.1%, followed by the education level of the children’s father 9.3% and the understanding level with the children’s mother 8.0% which build up 54.5% of the total account for depression. For the children hospitalized for non-cancerous diseases, the anxiety of the children took 37.5%, self-esteem level 18.2%, age of the children’s mother 10.2% adding up a total of 65.9% of the total explanation. For healthy school children, self esteem level 35.6%, anxiety of the children 11.7%, understanding level between the children’s father 11.7% built up a 49.4% account for their depression level. Such results show that to reduce the depression level of children suffering from cancer the anxiety level of the subjects should be brought down and at the same time a high level of self-esteem should be maintained. Furthermore, a demand for a nursing system which helps to promote more understanding between the children and children’s parents is needed in hand.
|