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