Influence of social support, age and gender on depressive symptoms among cancer patients

  • Fidelis C. Muo
  • Euckie U. Immanuel

Abstract

The study examined the influence of social support, age and gender on depressive symptoms among cancer patients in a sample of one hundred and seventy four (174) adult participants. Participants’ responses from the Social Provision Scale (SPS) and the Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) were used in measuring social support and depressive symptoms respectively. Multiple Regression was used to test the hypotheses. The results of the analysis show that social support was a significant negative predictor of depressive symptoms. Similarly, age was a significant negative predictor of depressive symptoms. In addition, findings showed that gender was not a significant predictor of depressive symptoms. Discussion highlights the importance of psychosocial support in the management of depression in cancer patients.

Published
2020-10-27
Section
Articles